Slayers INTROSPECTION
by Kel
Summary: It all started out innocently enough, but then Lina & Co. get some bad news. L/Z, G/S
1. Disclaimer

Disclaimer & Explanation:  
None of the Slayers characters belong to me, no money is being made from this story, and any resemblance to actual persons is purely on purpose... (Hmmm... in some respects none of the ideas belong to me, either. After all, I'm sure someone somewhere can find a resemblance in their work to anything I write. The fun isn't in the ending, it's in the trip.)  
This fic takes place after Next. Much as the sound of Crispin Freeman saying "Come on (over?) here, cutie" works for me, I still dislike the random character fluctuations enough to disregard it. Gourry still has his sword, and Sylphiel's determination to travel with the group hasn't been lost somewhere in dropped-plot h#ll. Also, small useful magic (ie dimensional pockets, etc) that isn't explained in the series, but that makes carrying traveling supplies and loot around exists. (Otherwise I'd have to find clever ways for them to be carrying things like toothbrushes and Jammies. {Sticks tongue out.} It's my fic and I'll play if I want to.)  
  
Oh, and it's going to be long. If you hate long fics, stop right here. In case you missed the couples in the description this is going to have definate Gourry/Sylphiel, and a bit of Lina/Zel.  
  
Xellos does appear, but spends a lot of time either out of site, or messing people up. 


	2. In Which the End Begins

The night was quiet. Lina Inverse, Bandit killer was bored. It had been a good day. She and her friends had followed an interesting rumor to a rather large bandit hideout... unfortunately, the rumor of a great book of curses and cures was false. But the treasure that the bandit gang had accumulated made up for it.  
  
Thinking of the book reminded Lina that not everyone was happy with the outcome of the day's adventures. Zelgadiss was wrapped in his cloak across the fire pit. He'd been looking for a cure for the chimerical curse his great/grandfather Rezo had 'gifted' him with years earlier. After finding out that the bandit's great book was no more than an introduction to basic black magic curses, he'd joined Lina in a little bandit demolition. Amelia tried to cheer him up, but all she'd really succeeded in doing was driving him a little further away from the rest of the group.  
  
Lina's gaze slid around to the remaining members of her group. Both Gourry and Amelia were fast asleep, wrapped so tightly in their bedrolls that the only way to tell them apart was by size... and the sword that the larger figure was clutching like a little kid's blanket. Lina shivered... it was really cold. Maybe...  
  
"Do you want me to take this watch?" a low, sweet voice interrupted her thoughts.  
  
"What? Zel... no, that's okay." Lina replied quietly... not that shouting would wake either of their companions.  
  
Zelgadiss had moved around the fire, leaving his blankets in a pile on the other side of the fire pit. He was holding a kettle in one hand, and what was most likely tea in the other. Lina hadn't even heard him move.  
  
"I'm fine, you don't have to..." Lina began.  
  
Zel cut her off, "It's okay. I really don't need that much sleep. You look cold."  
  
Lina shrugged, "I am a little... if you're making tea anyway... I should check the perimeter."  
  
Zel quietly made tea while Lina checked the outer edges of their campsite. By the time she returned, he had poured her the first cup, and was sitting wrapped in his cloak. Lina took the tea, smiling at his back.  
  
"Thanks." She began. "I'm sorry that we ended up chasing another false trail this morning..."  
  
Zel shrugged. Lina tried to see his expression, but his hood and hair hid his face completely. Lina sipped her tea, trying to respect his evident desire for silence. They both reached for the tea pot at the same time.  
"Let me." Lina said, "After all, you're the one who made it."  
  
"You should get some sleep." Zel said after they finished the tea. "It's just about time for the next watch. I'll wake Gourry for morning watch."  
  
"Thanks, Zel." Lina replied smothering a yawn. She made her way over to the open space near the fire and laid out her blanket. Curling into it, she tried to sleep... but between shivering from the cold, and worrying about Zel, she spent a long time tossing.  
  
Just as she was about to give up and tell Zel to go back to sleep, a warm presence intruded. More blankets, and a warm pillow... Lina turned in puzzlement. Zel was standing next to her, his bedding was spread over her, and his pillow was next to her head.  
  
Zel blushed as Lina looked up at him. "You looked cold." He said, standing up. "I know you gave some of your blankets to Gourry... " His voice faded as his blush grew hotter.  
  
Lina felt herself blushing. Of course he knew that. She'd complained loudly enough about Gourry forgetting his blankets when they left town that everyone within a five day walk probably knew she'd given him her other blankets. She muttered something that sounded like "That jellyfish for brains would probably forget his head if it wasn't screwed on tight..." then remembered where she was and blushed even more.  
  
"Thanks again. Just take them back when your watch is over." She said, snuggling down into the now warm pile. 'Hmmm...' she thought, 'why are Zel's blankets warmer than mine?' Her last though was one of happy contentment as she finally slid into sleep.  
  
Zelgadiss smiled faintly at the now peacefully sleeping sorceress. Or, as peaceful as Lina Inverse, chaos poster child, could sleep. For anyone else, that would be a workout. His faint smile turned into a grin as she twisted and turned, working her way around in a complete circle. Amazingly enough, throughout her tossing she managed to keep her cheek snuggled into his pillow.  
  
The rest of Zelgadiss's watch passed uneventfully. He spent most of it setting up guards and traps in preparation for Gourry's watch... knowing Gourry, he'd be asleep within 15 minutes of his watch starting. He shook Gourry awake, and went to reclaim his bedding. The first blanket was easy, Lina had abandoned it in her tossing and twitching. Looking at the tangle of blankets still wrapped around the sleeping sorceress, he decided to take a second blanket, but leave the third.  
  
Gourry was making his way sleepily around to the other side of the campfire, while Zel tried to extricate one of his blankets from Lina's sleeping grasp. Lina tossed a bit in her sleep, Zel froze, knowing waking the sleeping Lina might solve the problem of cold, but that the resulting fireball would simply make life more... disturbing. Lina settled back down with a sleepy murmur, but she had managed to grab his foot in the process.  
  
Zel tugged on his foot experimentally... Lina grumbled sleepily, and tightened her grip. His options appeared to be either removing his shoe, or waking Lina up. He thought for a moment, then bent down to remove the shoe.  
  
"Need help, Zeldagiss?" Gourry's voice came softly across the campfire.  
  
Zel blushed "You know any way to wake her up without pissing her off?" he whispered back, for once ignoring Gourry's mispronunciation of his name.  
  
"Nope. I'd just give in and sleep there if I were you. She'll let go during the night..." Gourry seemed remarkably unconcerned by the situation. Zel could feel his blush getting darker. Maybe Gourry was right. 'What am I coming to?' Zel thought, 'Looking to Gourry for help. Oh well. Things couldn't possibly get worse...'  
  
*The very harried secretary to the gods looked up and made a notation into an appointment book...*  
  
Zel extracted his second blanket from around Lina, hoping she would be warm enough. He made a creditable attempt to sleep away from Lina, but her grip on his foot pretty much limited that. Zel slid into sleep, never noticing the sleeping redhead cuddling closer into his leg.  
  
  
"PERVERT!" A scream rang through the previously quiet forest, as a furious redhead swung a slipper at the sleeping chimera lying next to her.  
  
"Huh.. wha? ... OW! LINA!" Zel's usually melodious voice sounded like he'd been gargling with gravel. He blinked a few time, then noticed that he was lying sandwiched between Lina and Amelia. A very pissed Lina, and a rather cuddly Amelia. The cuddly Amelia stopped being quite so cuddly as Lina's words registered.  
  
A sleepy Gourry jumped up from his nest of blankets, sword unsheathed in his hands. When he couldn't spot any invaders, monsters, or breakfast, he quickly sat back down again the tree he'd been sleeping against.  
  
Amelia jumped up from her bedroll. "Mr. Zelgadiss. How COULD you? A justice-loving person such as yourself should NEVER do such a thing!" She quickly scampered up the tallest tree in the clearing, and posed for maximum effect. "Taking advantage of your sleeping companions..." she began.  
  
Lina facefaulted. Zel facefaulted and fell to the ground, still wrapped in his blankets. With one foot still clenched in Lina's grasp.  
  
"Amelia. Come down." Lina released Zel's foot, quickly turning away to hide her blush.  
  
"Who was Taking Advantage of whom?" Zel still sounded less than completely melodious... who could blame him, no coffee, a screaming Lina, a preaching Amelia and the sleeping Gourry. Not to mention this headache. What a way to wake up.  
  
After the companions had managed to wake Gourry again, they sorted out their sleeping gear. Lina had declared Gourry's need for his own sleeping equipment took precedence over reaching the town Sylphiel was waiting for them at, and the group set off for the nearest town.   
  
Amelia bounced contentedly down the road, attempting to hang on Zelgadiss. Zel's headache had grown from a slight irritation to a massive one, and he was feeling less than completely comfortable having the same person who chewed him out at the top of her lungs clinging to his arm.  
  
"Amelia. Please let go." Zel shook his arm in an attempt to remove her. She pouted, but let go, and bounced up to talk to Gourry. Zel grimaced, and wished that he had something for the pain in his head.  
  
"Zel?" Lina's voice was unusually subdued, "I'm sorry about this morning."  
  
"Yeah, well, maybe it's time we stopped camping out at night." Zel tried desperately to be civil, after all, Lina was trying to apologize. His head was throbbing in time to each footstep.  
  
Lina grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop. "Are you all right? You look..."  
  
Zel pulled his arm out of her grasp. "I'm fine..."  
  
"Liar. You've got bags under your eyes, and you keep winching and rubbing your temples. Headache?" Lina reached out to turn him towards her. "I've got things for a headache tea..." she quickly cast a minor healing spell, hoping it would help.  
  
Zel winced as more light streamed through the trees they were walking under. 'I just want to get to the next town... but this headache is driving me mad.'  
  
"Let's just get to town."  
  
Lina agreed, but she couldn't stop watching him, worried that the self-sufficient chimera was suffering a headache that her healing spells weren't affecting.  
  
The next town was close, only half a day's walk. As soon as they arrived, Lina dragged the group to the town's only inn, and rented all 4 rooms for the next night. The innkeeper was happy to provide the group with water for Lina's headache tea, and a light snack. When he saw the amount of food that the group put away for their 'snack', he paled and quickly sent his eldest daughter out to buy more food.  
  
Lina sent Amelia with Gourry out to purchase blankets, and took the tea up to Zelgadiss's room. Her quiet knock didn't receive an answer, so she pushed the door in, peeking her head around the corner. The room was darkened, and it took her a minute to find its occupant. Zel was lying in the bed, with the pillow over his head. Lina walked into the room silently and shut the door after her to keep the light from the hallway out.  
  
'Migraine.' She thought 'Classic symptoms... what was that spell big sister used...?' Lina poured out a cup of tea while she thought. 'Damn, I'll have to look it up.'  
  
"Zel? Wake up." Lina spoke softly, while reaching out her empty hand to touch his shoulder. "This should help... come on, just sit up."  
  
Zel shivered and tried to crawl further under his pillow. He could feel every heartbeat, and his blood pulsed through his head like a thousand drums... A cool hand touched his forehead... that felt nice. And its owner wasn't yelling or pointing bright lights into his eyes. He slowly crept out from under his pillow. Lina was perched on his bed, holding a faintly steaming cup of tea.  
  
"Come on, Zel. Just drink this... it'll take the pain away." Lina smiled at the glazed look in Zel's eyes as he took the teacup. She continued murmuring encouragement as he slowly drank the cup's contents. When he was finished, she took the cup away, and set it on the table next to the teapot. "Better?"  
  
Zel mumbled in agreement, lying back on his pillow. Something was wrong with this situation, but it didn't really seem important. There were cool hands on his forehead, and the tea was creating a zone of warmth in his stomach. For the first time that day, the pain in his head was receding rather than growing. There was something he should say... but he fell asleep before he could remember what it was.  
  
Lina watched as Zel fell asleep, gently brushing the hair away from his face. She knew that he would hate anyone seeing him like this, but she couldn't bear to leave just yet. Zel muttered in his sleep and rolled onto his side, shivering slightly. 'Damn. I bet it was the cold last night. Idiot should have taken all his blankets back...' Lina felt guilt, and grabbed her blanket to lie over her sleeping friend. Then she sat with him until he stopped tossing and shivering.  
  
  
Zel was dreaming. He was a little child, and had come down with a fever. His head hurt. His mommy had made him his favorite tea, and tucked him into her own big soft bed next to the fire. Now she was stroking his forehead and telling him stories about his father... Her hands were refreshingly cool against his fevered skin, and her soft voice was soothing. She smelled like roses... which was wrong. His mother's scent had always been earthy, like red wine, wind swept rain, and wet fur. But he definitely smelled roses. Zel's tired mind tried to fit the smell into his dream, but it just wouldn't change. A faint smile grew as Zel slipped deeper into his dreams.  
  
  
Amelia and Gourry returned from shopping with a huge stack of things. They dropped the blankets into Gourry's room and the rest of the items into Amelia's before heading out to find Lina.  
  
The innkeeper's wife directed them to the baths, and informed them that their companion had taken tea up to her husband and was waiting for them.  
  
"Who?" Gourry asked, very confused. At the woman's explanation, he laughed and explained that they were all just traveling companions.  
  
"Oh, well, she seemed very concerned about him, and spent a long time in his room... I guess that explains the 4 rooms, then." The woman shrugged and confirmed their dinner preferences before sending them off to the baths.  
  
"What's wrong, Amelia?" Gourry asked as they walked to the baths. The normally bouncy princess was very quiet.  
  
"Why did that woman think that Miss Lina and Mr. Zelgadiss were married?" Amelia asked, "I mean, isn't it obvious that ..." she stopped, then continued "I guess it's just that... well, Miss Lina isn't very wifely, is she?"  
  
"Hmmm? Oh, well... umm..." Gourry stuttered for a minute, then continued "It's probably just that you and I walked in together, then Lina and Zel showed up a bit later... if you remember, he wasn't looking very good, and Lina took care of arranging for his room, and making him medicine, and everything. She was even able to tell the innkeeper what he would want if he woke up, and what to prepare for his breakfast. Then we both left to go shopping, while Lina looked after Zel. They are pretty close."  
  
"Doesn't that bother you Mr. Gourry?" Amelia asked, not liking his explanation. If even Gourry could see it as possible...  
  
"Why would it bother me, Amelia?" Gourry was puzzled, "Lina would do the same for either of us... I know she seems very angry all the time, but she'd never abandon a friend who needed her."  
  
They reached the baths, which was good, since Gourry was terribly confused, and Amelia just seemed to be getting more and more upset. They separated, and headed for their respective baths. Amelia couldn't believe it. Gourry was so dense.  
  
She thought about the situation as she changed out of her clothes. 'Why would someone assume that Miss Lina is married? She's the least likely person I know to get married...' Amelia's mind turned over this question, before remembering Hallas. 'Hallas wanted to marry Miss Lina, though. But she said she was too young to get married. But that was 2 years ago. Maybe she thinks she's ready to get married now...' Amelia got more and more mad the more she thought about it. 'I bet she said something to that woman, and that's why she thought they were married... how could she!' Amelia was finished changing, and walked into the baths only in her towel.  
  
"Hi Amelia." Lina said, happy to see that Amelia has made it back from shopping in time to get a bath before dinner. "How was shopping?"  
  
"How could you?" Amelia cried, staying as far away from Lina in the bathing pool as possible. Tears of rage beaded in the corners of her eyes, "What would Mr. Zelgadiss say?"  
  
"Huh?" Lina was feeling a little lost. "Why would Zel say anything about me bathing?"  
  
"Telling that woman that you were married!" Amelia cried, pointing at Lina accusingly.  
  
"Amelia, what are you talking about? Are you feeling okay?" Lina was feeling very lost.  
  
"That innkeeper woman! She thought you were married! What did you tell her?" Amelia was standing in the pool, still pointing at Lina.  
  
"Amelia! Pointing is rude!" Lina cried, "And I still don't know what you are talking about."  
  
Amelia blushed and sat back down in the water. "You mean you didn't tell that woman that you and Mr. Zelgadis were married?" A blush crept up her cheeks.  
  
Lina facefaulted. "You thought I WHAT?" she cried. A blush crept up her cheeks, and down her neck. This impressed Amelia until she realized Miss Lina was mad. At her. Amelia paled, then flushed again.  
  
"I thought you must have said something to her, because she called him your husband, and there was no real reason for her to think that and..." Amelia trailed off, pushing her index fingers together.  
  
"Amelia, I don't have time for this now. Zel is sick, and we are going to be late meeting up with Sylphiel because of this little detour." Lina sighed and slid deeper into the water, both to escape Amelia, and to hide the blush that she knew was forming. That woman thought Zel was her husband? 'How... odd. Never happen. But wouldn't it be nice...' Lina quickly strangled the chibi-lina who was sitting there with a smile on her face at that thought. Time to get back to Amelia.  
  
"Amelia, it's not that strange. A lot of girls my age are married, and I'm sorry that the innkeeper misinterpreted. There isn't anything between Zel and I. You know that." Lina tried to speak calmly, but she could feel her blush getting worse. "He's one of my closest friends, and nothing anyone thinks about our relationship is going to change that." Lina stopped, realizing that her explanation wasn't really sinking in. "In any case, it was just a stupid mistake. Stop overreacting."   
  
They finished their baths quietly, both thinking about Amelia's outburst and the reason for it. Amelia wasn't sure why exactly she had reacted so strangely. She just knew that Miss Lina and Mr Gourry were perfect for each other, and was upset for him...   
  
'Keep telling yourself that, maybe you'll believe it.' Chibi-Amelia scoffed 'If you were honest with yourself, you'd realize that you were mad because you want people to make that mistake about YOU and Zelgadiss, not Lina and Zelgadis.'  
  
Lina was fairly confused. She'd felt bad this morning after yelling Zel awake. It wasn't his fault that she had thought he was doing something odd, but she was kind of puzzled why she'd been cuddled up against his leg. And the rage that she'd felt when she saw Amelia sleeping curled up at his back. That wasn't usual, either. 'What am I doing?' Lina thought, 'He's my friend, I know that he would never try to take advantage of me.'   
  
'But don't you sometimes wish he would...?' Chibi-Lina asked.   
  
'Shut UP!' Lina thought back.  
  
  
After their baths, the three slayers returned to their inn. The innkeeper had timed things well, and Lina had ordered enough food. By the time that they had started into their fourth plates, people from around town had heard about the minor war taking place in the inn common room, and come to see what all the fuss was about.  
  
"I claim this meatball in the names of Sailoon and JUSTICE!" Amelia cried, trying to spear the last meatball on her fork.  
  
"I don't think so!" Lina cried, "I saw that meatball first!" She intercepted Amelia's fork, and began an impromptu duel.  
  
They were battling so fiercely that they never saw Gourry's fork. Luckily, the Innkeeper came out with their fifth plate of meatballs just as they were about to get violent. The townsfolk looked on in awe for a moment, then the bets began flying. This was the most interesting thing to happen since Stella ran off with her twin sister's fiancé!  
  
After dinner, the satiated group sat back in their chairs, and listened to the story that the innkeeper's middle daughter was telling.   
  
'She's pretty good.' Lina thought. 'I should ask her about her training. Maybe I can get Cousin Dian out here to take her to the Bard's guild...' She listened to the girl until her eyes started to feel heavy. She looked around, and noticed that Gourry had fallen asleep in his chair and Amelia was looking the same way she was feeling. As the story drew to a close, she tossed a small gem from the recent bandit heist... umm, retribution, to the girl.  
  
"Thank you, Raine. That was the best telling of Tristan and Isolde I've ever heard. Quite a talent you have there." Lina smiled at the now speechless girl, then looked around the room, "You've been hiding a Master Storyteller here. And I bet you've all gotten spoiled."  
  
"Miss Lina is right." Amelia said, "I've heard a lot of storytellers in my time, but that was the first time I've ever heard anyone sing that song in the middle."  
  
Raine blushed at this praise from strangers. "That was an original piece. Most people just gloss over the song she's singing in the garden, but I always thought that it was such a part of the story... I'm glad you liked it.'  
  
Her parents looked on, her mother proud, her father apprehensive. He didn't want his little girl to go out into the world as a bard.  
  
Lina and Amelia tried to wake Gourry for bed, but he wasn't budging. Lina started to fireball him to wake him up, then looked around the crowded room, and simply levitated him into a semi-standing position. She and Amelia maneuvered him up the stairs. If anyone in the common room thought this was odd, they kept it to themselves.  
  
Once they got to the top of the stairs, Lina told Amelia that she would get Gourry into bed, and to go to sleep. Amelia sleepily agreed.   
  
"Gourry, wake up!" Lina said crossly, "I'm just going to drop you into your bed, you can take your clothes off yourself." Contrary to her worlds, she unbuckled his armor and swordbelts, and took off his shoes before rolling him into bed.  
  
"'Night, Mommy..." Gourry muttered as Lina pulled the covers over him. She tiptoed out of the room, and entered her own. 


	3. In Which Lina is a Pillow

Lina changed into her pajamas, and was just about to get in bed when she heard a noise outside her door. She walked over to the door and opened it. Looking around the empty hallway, she spotted the innkeeper's wife standing in front of Zel's door with a covered tray and a teapot.   
  
"I thought your hus... friend might like some dinner. I meant to bring it up earlier..." The innkeeper's wife trailed off. Lina thought about Zel's reaction to a stranger entering his room in the middle of the night and groaned silently.  
  
"I'll take it in to him, Ma'am. It's probably safer if no one checks on him but me... or our companions." Lina said, visions of her soft, warm bed evaporating into smoke.  
  
The woman smiled as she handed the tray and teapot to Lina. "Call me Millie, dear. Make sure you get some rest of your own."  
  
Lina took her burden over to Zel's door, then realized that she didn't have a free hand to open the door with... maybe Luna's waitress lessons might have some use after all. She balanced the tray on the palm of her left hand, over the teapot handle, and opened the door.  
  
"Zel? You awake?" His room was even darker now than it was earlier. She walked carefully across the floor until her foot hit the table, then set everything down.  
  
"LIGHTING" she whispered, concentrating on making the spell no brighter than a dim candle. Nothing's worse than bright lights when you have a headache. With the room now dimly lit, she looked over at the sleeping man. Correction, the formerly sleeping man. Blue eyes stared into red, and light gleamed on the edge of his sword.  
  
"Lina. What..." Zel was confused. It was dark, and Lina was in his room in her pajamas with a tiny light glimmering softly behind her. It made her look like some kind of dream.  
  
"I just brought you some dinner. How's the headache?" Lina looked at the bed, then the table, and finally sat in the chair between the two.  
  
"Still there. Thanks for the tea earlier." Zel sat up, then winced as his head started pounding again. He was pretty sure that this had to be a dream, why else would Lina be, well, nice?  
  
"You can't have any more until tomorrow. It's a once a day thing." Lina was concerned, Zel had slept most of the day after having Luna's headache tea, and his head still hurt. Something was seriously wrong. "Can you eat? I'll bring it over."  
  
Zel carefully sat up. 'Definitely a dream," he thought 'might as well enjoy it while it lasts...' He propped himself up with the pillows, letting the blankets fall around his hips. He realized that he was still wearing his clothes. No wonder he was so uncomfortable. He started to take off his shirt.  
  
Lina was busy making sure that Zel's soup wasn't too hot, and pouring a cup of tea to realize that he was sleepily changing into his pajamas... except he'd forgotten he'd left his pajamas in a dimensional pocket. And his head hurt too much to try to open it right now. Lina looked up just as he was about to start taking off his pants.  
  
"ZEL!" Lina began, then moderated her tone at his wince "What are you doing?" She was blushing furiously.  
  
"I was just... changing ... um, looking for... my pajamas." He blinked at her "Why are you being so nice? Unless this isn't a dream..." Something wasn't quite right. His head hurt a lot, but Lina wouldn't be sitting in his room in her pajamas, would she? Maybe she would. He looked down, then blushed. "I'm a little..." he started to explain, drawing the blankets up to cover his now bare chest. "I mean. Umm. What I meant was... Never mind." He stuttered to a stop, his blush growing. Maybe he was awake... that would mean. 'She's going to kill me. I was just changing in front of LINA.'  
  
"Where are they?" Lina asked, feeling her blush deepen. She looked at his cloak and belts, no bag. "Do you use a pocket space, too?"  
  
"Ummmm...Yeah. But I can't really concentrate right now." Zel thought about trying to focus on his spell, and his headache intensified.  
  
"Let me see what I've got..." Lina said, rummaging in a backpack she'd pulled out of nowhere. "How about..." she pulled out a selection of clothing, most of it way too large for her. "I knew I had these somewhere." She tossed a pair of flannel pants and a matching knit shirt at Zelgadiss. He caught them, surprised that Lina would have something like them just floating around.  
  
"Umm. I picked them up for ... a friend." Lina tried to think up a good reason she might have a pair of men's pajamas in her travel bag. "I ummm... never really got around to giving them to him. So, they're new. I mean..." she trailed off, embarrassed.  
  
"Thank you." Zel looked around for a way to change without embarrassing himself more. Lina realized what he was thinking, and turned around.  
  
"I promise not to peak." She said, fussing with the food tray. 'Not that I don't want to, but... Bad Lina. He's sick. Leave the poor guy alone.'  
  
Zel changed quickly, or at least tried to. When he stood up to pull the pants up, his headache screamed back up to full strength, and he fell helplessly onto the bed, letting out a small groan of pain. 'At least I managed to get into the pajamas,' he thought.  
  
Lina turned around at the sound. "Are you okay?" she hurried over to the bed, leaving the food she had been playing with on the table. She placed a hand on Zel's forehead, noticing that he looked both flushed and pale. He was too warm.  
  
"Lina, I..." Zel began. Lina simply smoothed his hair away form his face, and smiled down at him.  
  
"Don't worry Zel. You took care of me, remember? At least I don't have to carry you across a small country." Lina was worried. Zel always seemed so indestructible, and yet, obviously he needed help now. "Can you eat? I'll help you if you need it."  
  
At Zel's nod, Lina turned back to the table. Considering, she slid the chair out of the way, and pushed the table close to the bed. Then she moved back to Zel, and leaned him up so she could sit behind him at the head of the bed, propping him against the pillow on her lap. She leaned over to the table and grabbed the soup bowl, not noticing the compromising position Zel was in while she was getting the soup.  
  
Blushing, Zel leaned against Lina, and slowly ate his soup. She held the bowl so he wouldn't have to worry about spilling it on himself. When he was done with the soup, she sighed, and grabbed the tea. Zel drank a third of the liquid, then handed the cup back to her, exhausted by the simple task of eating. But the slightly sitting position, or maybe the food was helping his headache. He smiled up at Lina, then closed his eyes as she gently rubbed his forehead and temples with her free hand.  
  
"That feels good. Do you mind...?" Zel's voice trailed off as Lina absentmindedly finished the tea in her hand and set the empty cup back on the table to rub both his temples at once. She cast a minor pain block spell, and continued with the gentle massage. At some point while she was rubbing his temples, the sleeping potion in the tea overcame both of them, and they fell asleep, Lina leaning against the wall, and Zel leaning against Lina, her fingers twisted through the surprisingly soft wire of his hair.  
  
Surprisingly, or maybe due to the sleeping potion, Lina's sleep was calm, quiet, and completely non-violent. And Zel dreamed that he was finally human, and that someone loved him... someone who smelled very sweetly of roses. 


	4. In Which Gourry Shows Forethought????

Chapter 3 - In which Gourry shows forethought????  
  
The next morning, Lina woke up to her door opening, and a stranger saying "Miss Lina. Wake up. Miss Lina?" Something was wrong, there was a warm weight pinning her lower body to the bed, and she was... sitting?  
  
Lina blinked up at Millie, who was clearing the tray from the night before. She blinked sleepily, wondering what was... 'Oh, Zel...' Her sluggish mind tried to figure out what exactly was happening, still trying to clear the last effects of the sleeping potion.  
  
"Thanks, Millie. We'll be down in a bit." She said, still trying to figure out what was going on. "Just let Amelia and Gourry sleep in... they deserve a break." She looked down at Zel, who was still lying across her lap, but had managed to turn over enough to slide an arm around her waist. "Ugh. What was in that tea?" she wondered out loud.  
  
"Just a little something my mother used to make when we were feeling poorly." Millie replied. "I know that you gave him something yesterday, but I checked the remains of the tea you brought back and knew they wouldn't interact poorly. Would you like the recipe?"  
  
"Definitely." Lina replied, leaning back against the wall and absently checking Zel's forehead... his fever was gone. She smiled, smoothing his hair back.  
  
Millie smiled as she took the tray out, 'I knew those two were a couple. I wonder what the big fuss was? City folk sure have weird ways...'  
  
Lina's poor drugged mind slowly realized that she was sitting in Zel's bed. This was not good. And that Zel was using her as a pillow. This was even worse. And someone had apparently KNOWN? What next... At least Amelia and Gourry didn't know about this...  
  
"Zel. Wake up." She gently shook the chimera. He murmured sleepily and tried to burrow into her side. She twitched, 'Must not cast attack spell...' "Zel, WAKE UP!" She shook him, trying to ignore the illusory flames starting to leap around her head.  
  
"Don't wanna... like my pillow..." came the mumbled reply, "smells like roses..." and the sleeping chimera curled up around her like a very large flannel covered cat, grabbing her with his other hand.  
  
The illusory flames around her head spread to the rest of her body, then died down as an evil grin came over her face. 'He's going to regret this...'  
  
"LEVITATION!" Lina cast the spell, flying both of them out the window and then Ray Winging to the very cold pond just outside of town.  
  
"Either wake up RIGHT NOW, OR I'M DUMPING YOU IN!" Lina yelled into the now twitching chimera's ear.  
  
His hands twitched, then let go of her, right before she punched him out of her spell, dumping him, and his blankets into the icy water below.  
  
"AAARGH!" *Splash*  
  
Lina gently settled onto the shore, and watched as a very irate, wet, and bug-eyed Zel climbed out of the water.  
  
"Feeling better?" She asked, smiling innocently, and batting her eyelashes at him.  
  
"Well I WAS. What was that for?" he grumped, wringing water out of his soaked blankets and glaring at the happily smiling sorceress.  
  
"I did ask nicely." She grinned, "and since you missed the bath house yesterday..." The chimera growled at her, dropped his blankets, then pounced on her, drenching her in the process of attempting to tickle her unmercifully.  
  
Ten minutes later, they realized that not only were they wet, muddy, and still in pajamas... they were also sitting at the side of a public pond. Luckily, Millie had woken Lina just before dawn, so most people were just starting their day.  
  
"What was that about me missing the bath house?" Zel asked from where he sprawled in the now muddy grass. "Looks like you need a bath, too."  
  
Lina looked down at herself, noticing the mud caked in her hair and on her clothes. She shrugged.  
  
"FIREBALL!"   
  
Lina looked at the now gently steaming section of pond, and flashed a victory sign at Zel. She splashed her way into the warmed water, rinsed the mud from her hair and clothes, then levitated back to a clean patch of grass.  
  
"Your turn," she smirked "Might want to rinse while the water is warm."  
  
Zel sighed, and followed her example. When he emerged from the pond, Lina cast a quick drying spell on him.  
  
"Can't have you rusting." She grinned. Zel snorted, and grabbed Lina in a Ray Wing bubble, flying them back to the inn.  
  
  
Both Amelia and Gourry were at the breakfast table by the time that Lina and Zel were done cleaning up and changing. The innkeeper was ready for their appetites this time, and prodigious amounts of food arrived at the table, along with a large pot of tea.  
  
'Good morning," Millie said as she dropped the pot of tea off. She turned to Gourry, "The messenger you sent yesterday has arrived, and he brought some friends of yours with him." She turned and waived over two figures that were just entering the tavern room.  
  
Gourry's face lit up as he recognized the first figure. "Sylphiel. I wasn't expecting you to hurry and meet us here... do you want breakfast? It's almost as good as you make..."  
  
Sylphiel smiled shyly, and brought a chair over to the table to sit next to Gourry. "Thank you." She said in her soft soprano. "Mr. Xellos decided to join me, I didn't think it would be a problem."  
  
"Hello!" Xellos grinned in his usual enigmatic fashion. "How went the hunt for that book?"  
  
"Not very well, Mr. Xellos." Amelia began, "And then Mr. Zelgadis got sick..."  
  
"It was just a headache." Zel grumbled, less than happy to see the trickster, even if he was traveling with Sylphiel. Amelia noticed his unhappy response, and immediately began apologizing and trying to cheer him up. Zel ignored her, except to grunt in response to her questions.  
  
"So, Xellos, what brings you out this way?" Lina asked around mouthfuls of food. She grabbed the jug of juice and drank half of it, not even bothering with a glass.  
  
"That... is a secret." Xellos smirked at Lina, who simply shrugged at grabbed the last sausage.  
  
"Whatever. I suppose you are going to try to convince us to go pursue some ridiculous rumor which will lead us to saving the world again..." Lina glared at Gourry, who was trying to snag the last stack of pancakes. "Gourry! That's mine!"  
  
Millie and her oldest daughter walked over with another few trays of food, just as the shouting match was about to degenerate into a slipper-throwing contest. She winked at Sylphiel as she set down a tray of pastries and another cup for tea next to her. Sylphiel grinned shyly in return, and selected a berry pastry before offering the tray to Gourry.  
  
Gourry paused halfway through his fifth pastry and passed the remainder over to Amelia and Lina. Sylphiel looked at him, puzzled.  
  
"These taste like your pastries, and I know that you always make at least 2 batches, so if I give Lina some now, maybe I'll get more later..." Gourry explained, shocking his breakfast companions. The battle between Lina and Amelia paused from shock, allowing Zel to snag a cream cheese pastry without risking his life.  
  
"Gourry, that's... I mean you... umm" Amelia paused, not sure how to say this nicely.  
  
"Gourry? Did you... just plan something... in advance?" Lina stuttered. She was so stunned she didn't even notice Xellos snagging a pastry of his own.  
  
"Don't look so surprised Lina. I might not be smart, but I know how much Sylphiel cooks." Gourry replied crossly. "And since I sent her that message right after we arrived yesterday, she probably arrived last night."  
  
"Gourry is right." Sylphiel said, indicating the innkeeper "My mother and Millie were in seminary together. I've known her my whole life, so when Joell bought your message, I figured I would meet you here."  
  
"Well, Miss Lina, I suppose this means you can't blow up the inn... after all, these people are almost Miss Sylphiel's family." Xellos smirked as he attempted to grab another pastry. Lina noticed his action, and smacked him across the face with the slipper. Xellos flew backwards, landing on Zel's lap. "Zelgadis," He cooed, "I never knew you cared."  
  
Zelgadiss calmly punched him under the table, then poured himself another cup of tea. "Don't touch me, fruitcake." He growled.  
  
The rest of breakfast passed quietly. At least, the inn was still standing when they finished... After Gourry and Lina finished fighting over the last of Sylphiel's pastries, they settled down to figure out where to go next.   
  
"How about the Blate Temple?" Sylphiel suggested. At Gourry's blank look, she explained. "The Blate Temple is the only temple in the world that specializes in both Black and White Magic. There are even rumors that Lord Rezo used to study in their library. Maybe they would have something to help Mr. Zelgadis."  
  
Zel grumbled under his breath at the mention of his great/grandfather, turning away from the discussion.  
  
"How come we haven't gone there before?" Gourry asked.  
  
Lina hit him with a slipper that she had pulled from nowhere. "Remember the big nasty barrier that was put up a thousand years ago? The only pass to the Blate temple is right along that barrier."  
  
"But if there's a barrier, how do we get there?" Gourry asked, scratching his head.  
  
"The barrier has dropped, Gourry dear." Sylphiel replied, gently catching Lina's slipper before it could hit him again. "Although some people believe that a powerful magician, like Lord Rezo, could fly over the mountains."  
  
"Would you please stop going on about Rezo?" Zel asked, turning back to the conversation. "He probably did go to that temple, he tried everything to cure his damn eyes..." Zel trailed off, absently rubbing his temples.  
  
"Is your headache still bothering you, Mr. Zelgadiss?" Sylphiel asked. "I could try to heal it if you like."  
  
At Zel's nod, Sylphiel moved to stand behind him, concentrating. Her hands glowed a soft white, as she chanted a spell under her breath. Amelia looked on watching Sylphiel's technique, she hadn't ever seen this spell before, and Sailoon was supposed to be the white magic capital of the world.  
  
As the light moved from Sylphiel's hands to Zelgadiss's head, Sylphiel's eyes flew open, and a look of startlement replaced her usual gentle expression.  
  
"Mr Zelgadiss... you are... falling apart!" She exclaimed, too shocked to gentle her statement.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Amelia and Lina asked at the same time. Then they turned to glare at one another.  
  
"Mr. Zelgadiss's body is the result of a very powerful series of spells." Sylphiel began, "As you know, most spells only last past their creator's death if something else is used to power the spell. That's why we usually use a higher power for any large spells."  
  
Lina and Amelia nodded, while Zel's face grew more horrified. Sylphiel continued.  
  
"Because of the mix of magic that Lord Rezo used, he would have had to draw power for a number of sources. I've never seen a spell that used White, Shamanism and Black Magic all at the same time. I don't know how it could have been done without using some of the creator's essence to power the Shamanist sections of the spell. Lord Rezo probably would have had an accomplice, and their power should have kept Mr. Zelgadiss functioning past Lord Rezo's death..."  
  
"Eris" Lina snapped, "That little..." She broke the cup in her hand, muttering under her breath.  
  
"But Miss Sylphiel, how could Mr. Zelgadiss have kept functioning past Eris's death..." Amelia asked, quiet confused by the concept of mixing magic.  
  
"There was probably some residual power, and maybe Eris tied the copy Rezo into the spell... Zel could have even been functioning off the released power from Zanaffar's defeat..." Lina interrupted... "There are some possibilities, here..."  
  
"Couldn't someone else just power the spell?" Gourry asked, for once following a conversation about as well as Amelia... hey, when everyone is confused, the person with the most practice will probably be better at it than the others...  
  
"Well," Sylphiel began, "I've never heard of anyone taking over a spell without the help of the creator, but I suppose it could be possible..."  
  
"I'm doomed," Zel groaned, "Not only can't I find my cure, but I'm falling apart... Damn you, Rezo!"  
  
"Well," Xellos began, "I guess we just have to try to find someone who can help Zelgadiss... quite the adventure, hmmm Lina?"  
  
Lina turned to Xellos, "You knew, didn't you? That's why you are here, or is it the free buffet?" she threw another slipper at the smiling priest, who dodged, then caught it, examining it before throwing it back.  
  
"Interesting toy." Said the smiling priest, "But should you really be using parts of your own essence as a weapon. Someone could hurt you with those things."  
  
"Shut up or be helpful!" Lina snapped, banishing the slipper.  
  



	5. In which the party tries to set out on a...

Chapter 4 - In which the party tries to set out on adventure  
  
After the party finished arguing over Sylphiel's findings, they determined to head for the Blate temple. Since the journey was very long, Sylphiel and Amelia settled down to write letters telling where they were going and what they were doing. While they were doing that, Lina was talking to townspeople, attempting to find a bandit gang in the local area to... interrogate. She seemed unconcerned about their path.  
  
Zelgadiss settled down with the local guides and a large pot of tea to determine the best route to the temple. One guide argued that the best way didn't matter, because with winter coming, only an idiot would want to go up into the mountains.   
  
"No. There is a way," the second guide argued, "especially if you have magic, which I assume you must, sir. There is a pass, but it is very dangerous, and there are sections where magic just simply doesn't work. From what the young lady over there said," he nodded towards Sylphiel, "you probably don't want to be without magic for long."  
  
Zel sipped his tea, for a moment, then turned to the first guide. "Do you know anything about this way?" He inquired, setting his mug down gently on the table.  
  
The first guide looked disgruntled. "I've lived in this town for my entire life, and I've never heard of this pass." He glared at the second man, "How do we know you aren't just making this up?"  
  
The second man chuckled, then carefully pulled out an old journal. He passed the book to Zelgadis, who took it delicately, trying not to damage the age-fragile parchment. While Zel tried to read the faded script, the guide explained "My grandfather took Lord Rezo through the mountains. Lord Rezo was so determined to get to the temple that he carved a path through most of the way."  
  
Zel looked up in surprise. "I thought you said magic doesn't work in places. How did Rezo..."  
  
The guide laughed at Zel's blatant skepticism, then pointed at the book. "His magic wasn't his only resource. Read it. There is a picture in there that could be you... except for the stone skin, of course." He motioned Zel to flip farther into the book, neither of them noticing the first guide slipping away, muttering under his breath.  
  
Zel motioned to the journal, almost afraid to touch it any more. "What is your name, I'd rather not travel with a stranger through these mountains."  
  
"Wilam." The guide said, pushing his dark bangs away from his eyes. Zel tried not to stare, realizing that Wilam's eyes were so dark they were almost black. "And I'm afraid we aren't really strangers... more like cousins." Wilam leaned forward, his dark eyes flashing blue in the light, and the highlights in his black hair glinting red.  
  
Zel studied Wilam for a moment, then smirked. "Hmm. Rezo sure got around for a priest."  
  
Wilam laughed in agreement, then pulled a sheaf of paper from his pocket, and handed it to Zel.  
  
"Here is a list of supplies you will probably need. I'll handle getting our food together, but you might want to make sure that you and your friends each have a set of the things on the list." Wilam grinned at Zel's raised eyebrow. "I'm going with you, so I'd rather not starve on the way. I've seen the way you people eat."  
  
Zel shyly grinned back at Wilam, tucking the pages into his pocket. He felt a little strange, having this person claim a familial relationship. Though, no one who saw them together would doubt they were related somehow, despite their obvious character differences. Wilam finished off his tea in one swallow, dropping the mug on the table.  
  
"I'll leave you to convincing them to get shopping and packing... maybe you could get the pretty priestess to make up some more of her pastries, they'd be nice to have on the road." Wilam made an offhand gesture at Sylphiel.  
  
"Ask her yourself... or better, have Gourry ask her." Zel replied, picking up his tea mug nonchalantly.  
  
Wilam sighed, his ever-present grin fading, and a sad look entered his eyes. "So, that's the way the wind blows, is it?" He turned to leave, then turned back to Zel, "Why are the good cooks always taken?" he asked plaintively, before his grin returned. "The redhead's cute... kind of quiet, though, isn't she."  
  
Zel sputtered into his tea. "Lina? Quiet?" he blinked at Wilam in complete bewilderment, then set his tea down, looking strangely at the mug. "What did they put in this stuff, I though you just said Lina was quiet..."  
  
Wilam laughed at his expression. "Gotcha, cousin. I'll see you back here at dinnertime." Zel grunted agreement, looking at Lina with concern on his face. She was speaking quietly with Mille over in the corner.  
  
"Hey Zeldogas," Gourry wandered over to Zel's table, "Make a decision about a guide?"  
  
"Gourry, How many times do I have to tell you, My name is ZELGADISS!" The chimera was startled out of his contemplation of the unusually quiet Lina, and reacted a little more strongly than usual to cover his embarrassment at being caught staring.  
  
Gourry grimaced in apology, rubbing the back of his head. "Umm... sorry, I'm really bad with names..."  
  
Zel stood up, standing for a moment with his hands braced on the table, before looking at Gourry. "It's okay. I know you have problems with my name... just call me Zel, like Lina does. It's easier." He stood completely up, moving around his chair to push it in, then turned to Gourry. "Wilam asked me to make sure that everyone had a complete kit for the trip. Do you want to get Sylphiel, Lina and Amelia, and we can all go shopping."  
  
Gourry blinked at this. "You WANT to go shopping with Amelia and Sylphiel?" he asked, rubbing his chin in puzzlement.  
  
Zel grimaced, "Not really, but I don't want them saying we forgot anything, either."  
  
Gourry smiled, understanding Zel's reasoning at last, then moved towards the girls to let them know about the shopping plans. Zel pulled out the list that Wilam had given him, then realized that Wilam had included recommendations for where to find things, and a map of the town with the major shops listed on it.  
  
Gourry returned in a few minutes, with all three girls in tow. Amelia and Sylphiel looked happy, but Lina looked like she was in for a day of torture. 'Probably not that far off,' Zel thought 'I've seen Amelia shop before. This isn't going to be pretty.'  
  
Lina's pessimism, and Zel's expectations were met. Between Amelia's desire to buy almost everything that they came across, and Sylphiel's constant petting of Gourry, Lina and Zelgadiss spent most of the trip replacing items on shelves, and taking turns watching their friends and speaking with the shopkeepers. Most of the shopkeepers gave them great prices when they learned that Wilam had arranged the list, and that he would be accompanying them on the trip. One shopkeeper even pressed a fur lined woolen cloak at Zelgadiss, claiming that she couldn't accept money from Wilam's family, not after he saved her son from an avalanche just last year.  
  
When Zel tried to protest, she just laughed. "Honey, your family is written on your face, and there's nothing you can say to change my mind. If it bothers you that much, bring me a luck token from the temple on your way back." She even hugged Lina and told her to take good care of him as they left the store. "Wilam would never say anything, but the rest of us all owe hi life-debts, and if his cousin needs help, it's the least we can do. You just make sure that he wears that cloak."   
  
Lina was startled, but she agreed. She caught up with Zel, and asked about the cloak. He showed her the cloak, it was a lovely charcoal gray with pale gray fur lining the entire cloak. Neither of them recognized the fur, but it appeared both warm and very soft.   
  
"Wow." Lina sighed, petting the fur with one hand, her eyes closing in pleasure as she stroked the cloak. Zel swallowed hard, then tried to offer her the cloak. "Oh, no." she replied, looking up at him, her eyes soft and wide, "this is your cloak. I can't take it from you, it was a present." She kept petting the cloak while she spoke, then reluctantly passed the cloak back to Zel, who folded it and slipped it into his dimensional pocket.  
  
The rest of the shopping trip passed without incident, except Amelia trying to purchase a silver tea set 'so Mr. Zelgadiss could have tea on the journey', and Sylphiel attempting to acquire a 'darling' cloak, made of lace. At Gourry insistence that she would freeze, Sylphiel let the lace cloak go and settled for a dark purple wool cloak. And Zelgadiss assured Amelia that he was still perfectly capable of making tea in the teakettle. The group returned to the inn to find Xellos entertaining the inn's guests with stories and 'magic tricks'.  
  
Having determined that everyone would be responsible for their own gear, except Gourry, whose gear would be split up between Sylphiel's and Lina's dimensional pockets, the group paused to adjust their room arrangements so Sylphiel would have somewhere to stay. Once another bed had been set up in Amelia's room, the group returned to the inn's main room for dinner.  
  



	6. In which Amelia becomes even more confus...

The group had headed downstairs for dinner with their usual enthusiasm. Lina and Gourry ran to the table, followed closely behind by Amelia. Zel, Sylphiel and Xellos, who claimed he wasn't hungry and would just keep everyone else company, followed more sedately.  
  
This evening, the town not only knew to expect the wars, but also wanted to take a look at 'their' Wilam's cousin. The tavern room was so crowded that the innkeeper had to bring in additional chairs from the house proper, and only the threat of Lina, Amelia and Gourry's battle taking out innocent bystanders kept space around their table. Zel was very glad for that space when he looked up at the shopkeeper from earlier, and realized she had brought along two daughters and a niece.  
  
The shopkeeper laughed gently at his expression, then turned to Millie to inquire about Raine performing. Millie smiled at the question, and pointed at the full room. "Unless we can get your girls to help, she's going to be too busy serving up food for entertaining tonight."  
  
Nearby townsfolk heard the interchange, and quickly pushed the three girls towards Millie. All three laughed their agreement, and went to claim aprons and send Raine out. When she walked through the door, the entire room fell silent for a moment. The only sound was a quick clash of forks from Lina and Gourry. Sylphiel softly touched Lina's should to get her attention. Lina glared for a moment, then caught Sylphiel's indication of Raine's entrance. She calmly sneaked half the plate of ribs she and Gourry had been arguing over, then smacked Gourry over the head, and pointed to Raine.  
  
Gourry looked up from swallowing the ribs almost whole and saw where she was pointing. He finished his bite then said "Hi Raine. Are you going to tell another story?" The whole room broke into requests as soon as Gourry broke the silence, only to fall silent again as Raine started to speak.  
  
"I want to tell you a story about a beautiful princess, her evil step mother and the handsome prince who rescued her." Raine began. The tavern fell silent, allowing her furry contralto to weave a spell over them all. Sometime between when the evil queen poisoned the beautiful princess, and the gallant prince kissed her awake, Wilam sat at the table and acquired his own bowl of noodles. Lina and Gourry were so entranced with Raine's storytelling that they missed his entrance. Amelia, on the other hand, was a little distracted by the sight of a human Zelgadiss look-alike, so much so that she stopped eating with a meatball halfway to her mouth, and only realized it when Sylphiel reached over and gently pushed her fork down on to the plate.  
  
Amelia blushed, hoping no one had noticed. Fortunately, everyone was so entranced by the story that they probably wouldn't have noticed the roof blowing off. She tried to follow the story, but her gaze kept wandering back to Wilam's face, comparing his to Zelgadiss's. After a while, Wilam seemed to notice her staring, and he turned to her, grinning. He blew her a kiss, and Amelia blushed, then looked back at Raine.  
  
Amelia wasn't sure why, but all throughout Raine's story her gaze was drawn back towards Zelgadiss and Wilam. She couldn't figure out why she was interested in their new guide, and convinced herself that she was simply curious about Zelgadiss's family. The rest of the group was busy either stuffing their faces and whispering food orders to the serving girls, or listening intently to Raine's story.  
  
When the story ended, the room erupted into cheers and shouts for another. Raine laughed and promised another as soon as she had time to check on her mother. The slayers group finished up their dinners, and discussed their plans for the next morning.  
  
"We need to leave early tomorrow," Wilam began, raising an eyebrow at Lina's moan of despair. "We can't leave before dawn, or we'll be tired too early, but we shouldn't leave much after it, or we'll get stuck in the foothills before the first good camping stop."  
  
Xellos smiled enigmatically at the group, eyes closed as usual. "What make you the most qualified person to lead us through this path? Have you taken this route before?"  
  
Gourry looked up, finally having run out of food. He studied Wilam for a moment, then broke in, "You don't look too old, I can't believe that you have enough experience to lead us through this dangerous territory in the winter."  
  
Zelgadiss looked astonished at Gourry's question; usually Gourry was ready to follow Lina anywhere without any planning at all. This was a strange turn of events.  
  
Wilam looked a little surprised at the questions, "Didn't Zelgadiss tell you? My grandfather helped Lord Rezo get to the temple. He left a journal of the trip."  
  
Lina looked interested at this piece of news, "A journal? Can I see it?"  
  
Wilam looked pained, but pulled the journal out, "Just be careful with it, okay?"  
  
Lina snatched it out of his hands, pulling away from the table slightly to set the journal on her lap and read it. She covered the journal, preventing anyone else from reading it. As she looked through the journal, her expression became more frustrated, and she started flipping pages faster. Finally she tossed the book onto the table with a sigh of frustration.  
  
"This thing doesn't have anything useful in it." She complained.  
  
Wilam looked up from his conversation with Zelgadiss and Gourry with a grimace at Lina's rough treatment of the tome.  
  
"My grandfather wrote things that would be of interest to a hunter or a trapper, or even a guide. I wouldn't expect a sorceress to find it interesting in the least." He snapped, checking the book for damage.  
  
Lina looked surprised at his response, then shrugged. "Why didn't you say so?" she demanded.  
  
"Umm, Lina?" Gourry said, looking puzzled, "I think he just did." Gourry yelped in pain as Lina's slipper bounced off his head. Sylphiel quickly signaled to one of the temporary serving girls for more food to distract her companions, and attempted to check Gourry's head.  
  
"Sylphiel, he's fine. I only hit him with a slipper..." Lina half growled, half grumbled. As the waitress returned with another plate of ribs, Lina and Gourry began squabbling for the food. Amelia noticed the journal sitting on the table and picked it up, telling herself that she just wanted to protect the book from any spilled food.  
  
"Amelia, are you all right?" Zelgadiss asked. "You haven't eaten very much..."  
  
Amelia brightened at this sign of his concern for her, then flushed when she realized Wilam was staring at Zelgadiss in bewilderment.  
  
"Not eaten very much?" Wilam began, "If this is not eating very much, how in the world are we going to be able to carry enough provisions for the journey?"  
  
Gourry looked up at this questions, "Mmmm hmm a mrry hmmd himmin hmem", he began.  
  
"What?" Wilam broke in. "I can't understand a thing you said."  
  
"What Gourry dear said was that Lina has a very good fishing spell." Sylphiel translated, "But he forgot that were bringing along plenty of supplies, and I'll make sure we have proper cooking utensils. We'll be fine."  
  
Wilam winced at the thought of having to provision the group if tonight was any indication of their usual eating habits.   
  
"Um, I wasn't too specific on quantity when I gave you that list..." he began.  
  
"Oh, don't worry about it. We adjusted your rations, it's not like we've never done this before." Lina retorted. "You forget that you will be traveling with a very competent sorceress."   
  
Unnoticed, Amelia flipped through the book Lina had dropped. She was amazed at the descriptions of the terrain that they would be journeying over, and began to worry that Wilam might be right.  
  
"Um, Miss Lina..." she began, only to be overridden by Lina's argument with Wilam. "Miss Lina!"  
  
Lina stopped her argument and turned to Amelia, "What is it Amelia?"  
  
Amelia held out the journal, pointing to a small map. "It doesn't look like we'll be able to stop for food on the way... are you sure we've brought enough?"  
  
Lina glared at the little map, then sighed. "I suppose you're right. It couldn't hurt to get some extra."  
  
Wilam smiled down at Amelia as Lina turned to Sylphiel to discuss their supplies.  
  
"Thank you." He said, his grin widening as the little princess blushed, "I don't think that I would have been able to convince her without your help."  
  
"Oh, well, Miss Lina's always concerned about food. Just mentioning that we might run out would make her immediately try to figure out how to carry more." Amelia simpered.  
  
Zel placed his empty tea cup on the table, and picked up the journal.  
  
"Mind if I borrow this?" He asked Wilam. At Wilam's shake of the head, Zel picked up the journal and stood up.  
  
Amelia noticed his move to leave, and immediately stood up to follow him. As he moved away, idly flipping through the book, she sat down again, sighing at her idol's apparent lack of interest. Wilam noticed her aborted move to leave, and grinned at her.  
  
"A little preoccupied, isn't he?"  
  
"Yes." Amelia sighed, little hearts in her eyes, "He never seems to notice me."  
  
"Well," Wilam began, "It's not really my place, but why do you care? He seems a little self-centered, not nearly as nice as someone like you deserves."  
  
Amelia blushed, "Mr. Wilam, I really don't think you should..."  
  
Wilam laughed. "Oh, Princess... you should know better." He patted her hand where it lay on the table, then excused himself.  
  
"We've got an early start in the morning. You should all think about making it an early night." He gestured around the packed tavern, "These people will stay here as long as you do, so don't even think of retiring once it quiets down."  
  
Amelia looked over at her friends. She noticed that Xellos had disappeared somewhere, and Gourry was blinking sleepily as Lina and Sylphiel discussed their food supplies for the trip.  
  
"Oh, well" She thought "I might as well take Mr. Wilam's advise... after all, that's why he's coming with us."  
  
"I am going to go try to sleep." She announced to the table.  
  
Lina and Sylphiel looked up. Sylphiel noticed that Gourry seemed to be sleeping in his desert, and gently shook him awake while Lina wished Amelia goodnight.  
  
"I should take Gourry darling to his room. I don't think he'd be comfortable sleeping down here." Sylphiel said to Lina, then turned to Amelia "Would you be willing to help me? He's still pretty much asleep?"  
  
"Goodnight, everyone." Lina said, "I'm just going to go check about extra supplies and breakfast from Millie."  
  
Lina turned and moved towards the kitchen, not noticing how Amelia turned to look at her strangely as she helped Sylphiel move Gourry through the crowded room.  
  
  
After settling Gourry in bed and saying goodnight to Sylphiel, Amelia returned to her own room. She slowly changed into her pajamas, wondering about Wilam's comment to her earlier.  
  
"What could Mr. Wilam have meant about Mr. Zelgadiss?" She thought while tying her hair back, "He couldn't have meant that Mr. Zelgadiss is a bad person, he seems to like Mr. Zelgadiss a lot. He and Mr. Zelgadiss are related, so he knows that Mr. Zelgadiss isn't a monster. But why would he say that Mr. Zelgadiss is self-centered? Surely he can see that Mr. Zelgadiss is just... very focused. Isn't he?"  
  
Amelia slipped into bed, wondering at the direction her thoughts were traveling in. "Well, Mr. Zelgadiss will find his cure at this temple, and then he can show the world what a kind and caring person he is..."   
  
Amelia slipped into sleep, thoughts of traveling with her friends to right the world's wrongs floating in her head. 


	7. Finally, heading towards the temple

Chapter 6 - Finally, heading towards the temple  
  
The next morning dawned chilly. The various slayers gang awoke, or were dragged kicking and screaming from their beds. Amelia was the first one up, and bounced from room to room, happily informing her traveling partners that it was almost time to go.  
  
Amelia's usual morning exuberance was slightly less bouncy than usual, but most of her traveling companions were a little too tired themselves to really be aware of it. Lina had evidently spent most of the night in the kitchen with Millie and the chef arranging last minute food for the next day. Zelgadiss had remained buried in the old stories of Rezo's journey to the temple, and between the lack of sleep and the increasing mental strain of his current condition was unresponsive even after his morning coffee. Gourry was too intent on breakfast, and Sylphiel was too intent on Gourry to notice Amelia. Xellos noticed Amelia, but was enjoying her mental turmoil too much to assist her.  
  
"Miss Lina," Amelia began "When are we going to leave? I thought that we had to start off early in order to make it to the best campsite before dark."  
  
"Hmm?" Lina grunted, shoveling food into her mouth and blinking at Amelia's questions. "We'll leave soon. Don't worry about it."  
  
Xellos giggled silently at Lina's response. This trip was going to be very amusing. Soon the group was finished with their breakfast, and Wilam had arrived ready to leave. The entire staff watched the group divvying up their additional provisions, amazed at the casual displays of magic. Lina carefully divided the food supplies up, making sure that she had tucked a good supply of Millie's sleeping draught into her packs next to the package of big sister's headache tea. Amelia needed some help placing her portion of the supplies into a pocket space due to its large size, but Sylphiel had gotten enough Gourry watching in to tie her over until Amelia was comfortable.  
  
"It's a good thing Miss Sylphiel is so good at teaching, isn't it Miss Lina?" Amelia chirped at the fiery sorceress.  
  
"What do you mean by that, Amelia?" Lina snapped, turning to the younger girl menacingly. Xellos bounced in glee at the upcoming explosions.  
  
"Nothing, Miss Lina, just with Mr. Zelgadis so sick and you taking care of Mr. Wilam's supplies and all..." Amelia trailed off, wondering how to extricate herself from this new mess.  
  
"Lina, leave Amelia alone." Zelgadis interrupted, "We need to leave, and if you slow us down now, we'll never get out of here."  
  
The group assembled, now completely packed, and followed Wilam to the outskirts of town.   
  
Once they reached the start of the slender path they would be taking into the mountains, Wilam gave the group marching orders. He quickly realized that the clumsy princess was going to need help, and that Zelgadis wouldn't take the time to assist her, especially in his own weakened state. Xellos would probably push her off the path just for the amusement value, so he turned to Lina.  
  
Lina was adjusting her new warmer traveling garments and muttering something about hating to travel in the cold. Wilam crossed her off the list and turned to Gourry and Sylphiel. Sylphiel was clinging to Gourry's arm as they made their way across a slippery patch of leaves. Wilam sighed, crossing them off the list as well.  
  
"Well, Princess, how would you like to be my climbing partner?" He asked, flashing her a grin.  
  
"I guess that's okay, Mr. Wilam" Amelia said, flashing a pleading look at Zelgadis, who ignored her.  
  
"Right, Zel, Lina, Xellos and Sylphiel behind us, and Gourry make sure that you help anyone who needs it, okay?" Wilam looked over the group, realizing that Xellos had disappeared.  
  
"Where is Xellos?" he asked, somewhat confused.  
  
"Don't worry about him, he'll pop back in at just the wrong time." Zelgadiss answered.  
  
After reassuring Wilam that there was nothing to worry about, and that Xellos was capable of catching up with the party at any time, the group began the long journey into the mountains. Wilam was somewhat surprised to find that Amelia's clumsiness didn't cause her more concern, and took the opportunity to speak with the young princess. After a while, she became resigned to the fact that a trapper doesn't have much contact with anything requiring a dose of justice, and settled into the rhythm of the trip, half heartedly listening to his stories about the village they had just left.   
  
The first day of the trip passed uneventfully, and the group stopped in the early evening to set up camp. While Sylphiel prepared food and Gourry, Zelgadis and Wilam pitched the tents, Lina and Amelia gathered extra firewood for the fire.  
  
"Miss Lina?" Amelia asked, once the others were out of site.  
  
"Yes, Amelia?" Lina responded, fumbling slightly with the pile off wood she was putting together.  
  
"Are you still upset with me?" Amelia asked, setting her armful of wood down next to Lina's.  
  
Lina fussed with the wood a bit more, avoiding Amelia's gaze. She sighed, then stilled her hands and looked up.  
  
"Amelia..." She began, looking the younger girl in the face, "I think that you really need to stop jumping to conclusions. I know that you... well, what I mean is... I know that you think you have feelings for Zel, but..."   
  
Lina trailed off, noticing the other girl's eyes filling with tears. She was very uncomfortable talking about this with Amelia, especially when the younger girl's unhappiness was so evident. All Lina really wanted to do right now was to hit something, or maybe blow something up... she shook her head in a futile attempt to clear it.  
  
"No, Amelia... I'm not still upset with you." Lina sighed. She watched the younger girl swallow her tears, and wished that she was better at this. "I think you just need to leave Zel alone right now. He's not feeling well, and..."  
  
"Oh, Miss Lina. I know that sometimes Mr. Zelgadis is a little hard to talk to, but surely he needs to know that we care about him, especially now!" Amelia cried. She quickly gathered up her load of firewood and turned to go back to camp. "I'll go tell him right now!"  
  
"Oh, no!" Lina whimpered. "Zel's gonna kill me!"  
  
Back at camp, Gourry had been banished from the tent setup crew because it was taking them longer to untie him from the tents than it would have to set everything up without him. Sylphiel had detangled him, and had set him to fetching water for the stew she was planning to cook for dinner. When Amelia returned with the additional wood supplies, Sylphiel smilingly had her stack the wood near the fire area. Zelgadiss had finished setting up the last of the tents, and was leaning up against a nearby tree.  
  
Amelia immediately saw her chance, and walked towards Zelgadis.  
  
"Mr. Zelgadis?" She began, approaching him quietly, "Mr. Zelgadis, are you okay?"  
  
Zel mumbled something vague, and Amelia immediately began to stutter.  
  
"I just wanted to tell you that... well, we all care about you very much... and well..." Amelia began to squirm, not sure exactly what she was trying to say.  
  
"Is that you Amelia?" Zel said, barely opening his eyes.  
  
"Umm, yes..." Amelia began.  
  
"Oh, is Lina back, too then?" Zel asked, somewhat distracted by the pain in his head.  
  
Amelia's face immediately fell at Zel's question. Here she was, trying to reassure her companion that she cared about him, and the first words out of his mouth where a question about Miss Lina? Immediately, she felt horrible... Miss Lina had prepared that headache tea for Mr. Zelgadis, maybe that was what he was looking for... at least she hoped so.  
  
She looked around the campsite, not seeing Lina. 'Maybe I can cast a spell and help him... maybe then he won't need Miss Lina's tea...' Amelia thought.  
  
"I don't see her... do you want me to try to help? I could cast a healing spell." Amelia offered timedly.  
  
Zel sighed, looking up into Amelia's hopeful face. He really just wanted something to make the pain go away, maybe Amelia's healing spell would help. It couldn't hurt to try...  
  
"All right." He agreed, pushing himself up from the tree.  
  
Amelia beamed at him, thankful that Mr. Zelgadis would want her help. She began to cast her best healing spell, but as soon as she finished the spell, Mr. Zelgadis drew back with a hiss of pain.  
  
"Get Lina!" Zelgadis snapped at Amelia, curling into a ball at the base of the tree.  
  
Amelia gasped in horror, her eyes filling up with tears.  
  
"Miss Lina!" She cried, not noticing that the chimera shivered in pain at the sound of her voice. "Miss LINA!"  
  
This time Zel's response was evident, tears forming at the corners of his eyes, and a cry of pain forcing its way out of his throat. He curled further into himself and covered his ears, breathing harshly.  
  
Lina turned from the stack of wood she had been adding to, and saw Amelia running full tilt towards her. As she watched, the young princess tripped over a small rock and landed on top of Wilam, who was just emerging from his tent. The two rolled to a stop near Gourry's feet. Gourry immediately picked up a small twig, knelt down, and began poking the two of them with it.  
  
"Hey. Get up. Hey." Gourry continued poking the tangled duo, making no attempt to actually help them up.  
  
Lina sighed at these antics, and stomped over to pull Amelia up by her collar. Amelia dangled limply, her eyes swirling blindly as Lina demanded to know exactly what was going on. The noise from all of this muffled the tiny whimpers of pain from the chimera under the tree.  
  
Soon Sylphiel came over to figure out what all the fuss was about. She extricated Amelia from Lina's grasp and set her down gently on the ground. Amelia immediately gasped out the news that Zelgadis was suffering some odd effects from a healing spell, and Lina ran over to see if she could do anything for the now insensible chimera.   
  
Upon finding him unconscious under the tree, she immediately asked Sylphiel for a pot of water and produced the herb packets from her pockets. Setting the medicinal tea to steep, she began casting the headache spells that Luna had taught her years ago. The first two attempts produced no response in the stricken chimera, but Lina Inverse would not admit defeat to a mere headache. The third try produced some results, and Lina immediately maneuvered the groggy chimera into his tent.  
  
The interested party heard strange rustling and whispered commands come from inside the tent, but no one wanted to check and see what was happening. Soon, a slightly pink Lina emerged from the tent, glaring in all directions.  
  
"Welcome back, Lina." Wilam began with a smile.  
  
"Don't you start with me, Mister." Lina snapped, heading towards the guide with fire in her glare. "I don't want to hear about it..."  
  
Wilam laughed, motioning to Sylphiel. "Stew's ready, are you joining us?"  
  
The rest of the group let out the breaths they'd been holding as Lina's attention was immediately redirected.  
  
"Food?" she asked, little stars forming in her eyes. "You have food? For me?"  
  
Gourry looked up from his fifth helping to announce, "Yeah, it's really good. Aren't you glad Sylphiel came with us?"  
  
Lina agreed, mouth full, as Sylphiel set another pot of tea out for the petite sorceress.  
  
While Gourry, Amelia and Lina were occupied with the pot she had left sitting next to the fire, she carried a bowl of the stew into Zelgadiss's tent.  
  
"Mr. Zelgadiss?" She called softly, "I brought you some dinner."  
  
The gentle shrine maiden knelt beside the bedroll-wrapped chimera and carefully shook him awake. She blushed as he sat up, and then realized that he was still fully clothed. She hid a smile at the realization that Lina was embarrassed because of what others might have thought, not because of anything that actually happened. She carefully held out the bowl of stew to the sleepy chimera.  
  
"Thank you, Sylphiel. I think I'll come out and eat..." Zel said, pushing his covering back and taking the bowl of stew. Sylphiel smiled at him, then carefully turned and exited the tent. Zel followed, the bowl of stew carefully balanced in one hand. He sat down near the fire, turning slightly away, and began to eat.  
  
"Feeling better, Zel?" Lina asked, sitting back and rubbing her distended belly. "I know that Sylphiel's cooking is enough to make anyone feel better, but really."  
  
"Thank you, Miss Lina." Sylphiel replied, gathering up Gourry's bowl and cup and washing them absently before replacing them in her pack. "But I think that it was probably that headache spell of yours that did it. Would you mind teaching it to me?"  
  
"Oh, and me too, Miss Lina?" Amelia asked, bouncing over to clean her own dishes.  
  
"I'll have to think about it," Lina replied, looking down at her bowl. "I hate washing dishes..."  
  
"Oh, I could do that for you in return for teaching me the spell." Sylphiel offered, knowing that Lina would find some way of getting out of the chores she didn't like.  
  
"You're on, Sylphiel!" Lina cried, holding out her bowl to the shrine maiden with a grin. "Victory!" 


	8. In which lessons are given

Chapter 7: In which lessons are given  
  
The group finished dinner, and Lina began preparing to teach the other girls her older sister's headache spells while Sylphiel and Amelia cleaned up the dinner dishes. Zelgadiss walked over to Lina from where he'd been sitting, teapot in one hand.  
  
"Lina?" he asked softly, "Can I get some of that tea? My headache is still..."  
  
Lina jumped at the interruption, then grinned at her companion.  
  
"Why don't you go to bed, I'll bring the tea in when it's done steeping." Lina said, cocking her head to one side and putting on her cute face.  
  
Zel looked at her for a moment. "Why do I get the feeling that you're going to suggest something really unpleasant?" he asked.  
  
Lina put on her injured face, then paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't push you into anything. I'm teaching Sylphiel and Amelia the headache spells I used earlier. Do you mind if one of them tries the spell out on you when I bring in the tea?"  
  
Zel shrugged, and handed over the tea pot. "I guess it's all right. It doesn't really matter who casts the spell as long as it works."  
  
Lina looked surprised, but Zel just smiled at her and headed towards his tent. Lina watched him go, a thoughtful look on her face. She was still looking towards Zel's tent when Amelia and Sylphiel finished with the last dish, and made their way around the fire to her.  
  
"Miss Lina?" Sylphiel asked, looking at the still empty teapot in Lina's hand. "Are you planning to make some tea?"  
  
Lina started at Sylphiel's question, and looked down at the tea pot.  
  
"Oh. I need to make some tea for Zel..." She quickly drew her pack around from where it was serving as a backrest and rummaged through it for a while. A surprising stack of things formed next to her before she found the package she was looking for. She casually scooped the stack of possessions into her pack before taking a tiny amount of herbs from the package and adding them to the teapot.  
  
Amelia watched her closely as she poured a slow 10 count of water into the kettle and placed it on the stone in the center of the fire pit.   
  
"What are you doing, Miss Lina?" she asked, looking at the kettle.  
  
"Just making Zel some sleepy-tea" Lina replied, turning back to her students. "Everyone ready to learn the headache spells?"  
  
At Amelia's shout and Sylphiel's nod, Lina laughed and pulled out a small book. She ignored the discussions between Gourry and Wilam about who would take watch, and concentrated only on teaching the spells. Because of the natures of the different spells, she decided to split them between her students. Sylphiel would learn the white magic version, while Amelia would focus on the shamanic version. About the same time that the tea water began to boil, and Sylphiel had mastered the first headache spell, it began to snow. By the time that Amelia had mastered the second spell and the tea was done steeping, the snowfall had intensified to the point where it was threatening to put out the fire.  
  
"I think it's about time for you three to head to sleep. Lina are you okay with taking the mid-night watch again? Gourry said it was your favorite..." Wilam's voice was strangely subdued in the powdery whiteness. At Lina's agreement, he started to wave them towards their tents.  
  
"What about Mr. Zelgadiss's tea?" Sylphiel asked quietly, picking up the pot and pouring the contents into a mug. She looked at the contents of the mug skeptically, it seemed rather strong to her.  
  
"Oh!" Lina cried, grabbing the mug from Sylphiel, "I almost forgot!"   
  
Lina snatched up the kettle and washed it quickly, then dumped a handful of regular tea into the pot. She poured in a full measure of water, and muttered at the kettle, which immediately began steaming. She looked impatiently into the kettle, but the tea still wasn't done.  
  
"You guys go ahead... I was going to have you practice on Zel tonight, but with this weather..." Lina gestured at the snow still falling all around them, "Why don't you just go to bed, we'll brush up on the spells in the morning, and you can try them then... if he still needs them."  
  
Waving the two girls towards their tents, she smiled at Wilam, "Are you taking the first watch?"   
  
"No." Wilam laughed, "I figured Gourry should take it, since he mentioned that he always has problems waking up. Last thing we want in this area is a sleepy guard."  
  
Lina blinked at him, suddenly understanding why Gourry always seemed to sleep through his watch.  
  
'I wonder why he never mentioned that to me...' She thought, mixing a tiny amount of the sleep-inducing mixture into a cup of tea, and pouring the remainder into a little glass jar. She looked at the little jar thoughtfully before stashing it in a side pocket of her pack.  
  
'If he'd said something, I would have made sure that he always got the first watch... or would I? Maybe he mentioned it, but I just never really paid attention.' Lina tried to ignore the direction her thoughts were going, but being an inherently self-aware person, she couldn't. 'I always ignored his input on watch rotation... although at first when he thought I was just a little girl, he wouldn't let me stand a watch. Then later, I was too busy trying to prove that I knew what I was doing. Looks like we both made mistakes.'  
  
Shaking her thoughts aside, Lina turned and carefully made her way through the ankle-deep snow to Zelgadiss's tent. After calling his name softly and getting no response, she peaked into the tent. Zelgadiss was lying on the floor next to his bedroll, clutching his head and moaning.  
  
"ZEL!" Lina cried, scrambling into the tent and to her friend's side.  
  
Zel winced and the sound of her voice, and tears leaked from his eyes. Lina dropped to her knees, and slid to his side.  
  
"Zel, are you alright?" she asked, laying her free hand across his forehead. Zel's face relaxed slightly, and some of the tension leaked from his body.   
  
"Is he alright, Lina?" Sylphiel's soft voice broke into Lina's forming panic. Lina looked up at the shrine maiden, her anguish at her friend's pain screaming from her expressive eyes. At the sound of her voice, Zel tensed up again, until Lina drew closer, pillowing his head on her lap.  
  
"Sylphiel, you have to help him..." Lina hated to admit that anything was beyond her skill, but healing had never been her strong point. "What's happening to him?"  
  
Sylphiel crawled into the tent next to Lina, and laid her fingertips on Zel's temples. She looked up to Lina questioningly, and glanced at the still full cup in her hand.  
  
"Can you hold him still for me, Lina?" She asked. At Lina's nod, she smiled reassuringly, and closed her eyes to concentrate. A soft white nimbus appeared around the Shrine maiden, and slid down her arms to where her fingers lay against the chimera's head. After a moment, the glow took on a bluish tinge, and Sylphiel opened her eyes.  
  
At Lina's hopeful expression, tears filled the gentle shrine maiden's eyes. "He's getting worse." She paused, trying to figure out how to explain what was needed without offending the volatile sorceress.   
  
"His spell..." Sylphiel began, "It's fading. We knew that... but any stress on his body is going to make it fade faster. He needs more energy, to sleep deeply and fully each night, and to increase how much he is eating."  
  
Lina nodded, already making plans for the next day. Sylphiel cleared her throat uncomfortably. "He could also use... some outside help."  
  
"What do you mean?" Lina demanded, not liking where this was going.  
  
"He isn't very powerful, magically. It looks like he could have been... but all that power is being drawn off to support the spell." Sylphiel looked down. "I can feed him my power, like I would while casting a healing spell, but without directing it..."  
  
Sylphiel looked up, tears flowing freely. "But I can only give him a day or two. Is there anything that we could tie into his spell... something powerful, something that would last longer than me?"  
  
Lina thought for a moment, then looked down at the talismans adorning her throat, wrists and waist. She pulled the one at her throat off with her left hand, causing Zel to tense up as her hand left his forehead. "What about these?"  
  
Sylphiel looked at the talisman Lina was holding out to her. "I don't... I don't know... they are very powerful talisman, but don't they just amplify existing power? I could try..." Sylphiel's doubt made Lina grind her teeth.  
  
"Alright, what about me?"  
  
Sylphiel gasped, covering her mouth with her free hand, and stared at Lina. She knew that holding the spell for longer than a day would kill her, but she wasn't sure that Lina understood what she had meant. Obviously from the offer, Lina didn't understand. She shook her head, and tried to hand the demon blood talisman back.  
  
"I can't agree to do that to you, Lina..." Sylphiel began, "Do you understand what you are asking me to do?"  
  
Lina closed her eyes for a moment, before answering. "Sylphiel, I think I do... I can't imagine that you would turn your back on a friend, even if you could only give them a day of peace, if there wasn't something really wrong. Just let me do this."  
  
"Lina... It would kill me. I don't know how long you would have, but I can't kill you in his place." Sylphiel closed her eyes, trying to explain. "Mr. Zelgadis is my friend, and I would do anything in my power to save his life, but this isn't in my power. I know you're strong... but how strong are you really?"  
  
Sylphiel opened her eyes, meeting Lina's gaze unwaveringly.  
  
"This is going to take your magic and pull it from you bit by bit... you won't be able to cast any spell without causing him, and possibly yourself, pain. It will tie you to him in ways that could drive most people insane. Lina, are you absolutely sure that you can do this?"  
  
Lina laughed her carefree laugh, and smiled her brightest smile. She glanced down at Zelgadiss; her gaze resting on the stony hand that had grasped hers and pulled it to his face. She turned and set the mug of tea down off to one side, then laid her right hand across Zel's face. More tension flowed from his body at her touch, and she looked at him for a moment before looking up.  
  
"I can't just leave him like this, Sylphiel," Lina said nodding towards Zel, "any more than I could leave Gourry in Phibrizo's hands. I'm going to fight this, and I'm going to win. There just isn't any other option."  
  
Sylphiel nodded, then motioned towards the tea. "You should get him to wake up, he needs to be aware for this. That tea will help him sleep when we are done."  
  
Lina nodded, and freed her hands. She leaned over Zel, who was twisting into a knot again.   
  
"Wake up, sleepyhead." She whispered, shaking him gently. Zel responded by curling into her hands, and trying to hide under her. Sylphiel stifled a giggle, but Lina glared at her anyway.  
  
"Come on, Zel. Wake up... Sylphiel's laughing at me... you don't want me to have to hurt you because of that do you?"  
  
Either the gentle prodding or the low voices finally broke through Zel's pain-clouded stupor, because he blinked up at Lina. Not really aware yet, he reached for his sword, expecting her to be waking him for an attack of some kind. His groping hands met Sylphiel's snow and slush covered hem, and the bitter cold of melting ice jolted him the rest of the way awake.  
  
"Lina..." he began, pain making him more abrupt than usual. Lina moved away from him, ready to yell. As soon as her hands left his shoulders, the piercing headache returned, and he crumpled back to the floor of the tent with a whimper.  
  
Sylphiel and Lina moved together, catching his head before it could land on the floor. They knelt there, his head cradled between them when Gourry opened the tent flap.  
  
"Are you all okay? I thought I heard some yelling..." Gourry took in the shrine maiden and the sorceress on the floor with their chimera companion, and immediate jumped to the right conclusion. "He's getting worse, isn't he?"  
  
At Sylphiel's nod, Gourry flashed her a reassuring smile. "Well, it's a good thing you're here, Sylphiel. If anyone can help him, it's you." Gourry smiled at the trio, and withdrew from the tent, ignoring the battle aura that flickered into life around Lina.  
  
At Sylphiel's pointed throat clearing, Lina dropped her eyes, and her aura. "I'm sorry Sylphiel... he just makes me so mad!"  
  
Sylphiel laughed lightly, forgetting their situation for a moment. "Lina," she began, "you can't say that he's wrong about your healing skills."   
  
Lina looked up, eyes flickering angrily. "He just always seems to assume that I can't do things!"   
  
Sylphiel calmed her, as Zel twisted at the noise of their little argument.  
  
"That's not it at all, Lina. Your focus is just more... competitive... than mine is. I don't think you need to worry about Gourry forgetting that fact." Sylphiel looked down at Zelgadis, who was stirring back to wakefulness.  
  
"Are you ready to begin, Mr. Zelgadis?" She asked, gently settling his head onto Lina's lap. As Lina moved to get up, Sylphiel pressed her back down.  
  
"Ready for what? Why are you both here? Is this the headache spell practice you were talking about, Lina?" Zel asked, quickly regaining his usual temperament.  
  
"Actually, Mr. Zelgadiss..." Sylphiel began.  
  
"We're trying something a little bit different, but it should get rid of those headaches, Zel" Lina interrupted, glaring at Sylphiel. Sylphiel smiled at Lina's expression, understanding that she didn't want Zel to know exactly what she was risking for him.  
  
"It's a little more... personal than the headache spell, Mr. Zelgadiss. Lina is going to help me with a spell that should help until we can get to the temple." As she spoke, Sylphiel drew Lina's hands to Zelgadiss's temples. "Now, close your eyes, both of you. We're going to start with visualization. Lina, I want you to think of your favorite place. Can you describe it for us? As she's describing her place, I want you to try to see it, Mr. Zelgadiss."  
  
Lina sat there for a moment, feeling Sylphiel move around them, setting the perimeter of the spell. She began to describe her favorite place, a barn loft she used to hide in and watch her older sister's sword lessons from. As she described it, she heard Sylphiel beginning to chant. Their voices rose in counterpoint, Lina's voice higher and more animated, Sylphiel's sweet and low. Zelgadiss could practically smell the sweet scent of the hay in the barn, hear the horses stamping impatiently below, feel the sunlight warm on his chilled skin... his eyes popped open.  
  
His head was pillowed on Lina's lap, her hands resting on his temples. Her eyes were closed, and she was smiling. Sylphiel sat in front of them, glowing with a soft light. Her hands were moving in complex patterns in front of her, it looked almost like she was weaving something together, but the only thing there was light. Zel wanted to sit up, but something held him motionless. Lina's hands were hot, almost burning into his skin. The warmth from Lina's hands flowed down his body, pooling in his solar plexus and making him want to run into the snow to cool off.   
  
The light that Sylphiel was weaving was cool, it flowed from her hands over Lina and Zel as Lina fell silent. The warmth from Lina's hands faded, but Zel still felt warm. Comfortably warm, he wanted just to sleep. But sleeping meant moving, leaving the warm zone inside the spell circle than Sylphiel had made. He steeled himself for the cold, and moved to sit up.  
  
"Wait," Sylphiel said, motioning for him to lie down. "You have to stay inside the spell circle..."  
  
Lina looked up, shivering slightly. "What do you mean? How long do we have to stay here?"   
  
Sylphiel looked a little startled.   
  
"I don't know." She admitted. "The spell is usually used on someone who is confined to their bed, and the caregiver stays with them for a day at the minimum." At Lina's outraged look, Sylphiel stuttered quickly, "I think that 6 or 8 hours should be plenty... I'll just go get your things from your tent, Lina... Drink that tea, it'll help."  
  
Lina grumbled, and looked anywhere but at Zelgadiss. Zel looked down, and realized that the spell circle was only just big enough for two bedrolls, if they were touching. He blushed furiously, realizing that Lina would have to sleep in his tent, right next to him... practically touching.  
  
He mumbled something, looking at his hands.   
  
"What?" Lina snapped.  
  
"I'm sorry, Lina. I wish that this wasn't happening." He began. She glared at him, he paled and shut up."  
  
"What, are you saying I'm not good enough?" Lina demanded. "Are you trying to tell me that you don't want me here? Do you wish I had just walked away?"  
  
Just as Lina was starting to get really worked up, and Zel was trying to shrink into a tiny ball at one side of the spell circle, Sylphiel returned.  
  
"I think he's trying to apologize for your inconvenience, Lina." Sylphiel broke in, handing Lina her bedroll and pack. "Don't forget that tea, you should both probably have some. I'll let everyone know what's happened, and that you're just helping with a spell to heal Mr. Zelgadis."   
  
Sylphiel smiled gently at her friends, ignoring their glares and blushes as she dragged Zel's bedroll over. The two spell occupants laid out their bedding, carefully not looking at each other or touching. Zel, already in his pajamas, climbed immediately into his bedroll, drank half the tea, and slipped immediately back to sleep. Lina waited for him to be buried in his blankets before pulling out her own sleepwear and changing in that under-clothing way that all girls seem to know about. She made a face at Sylphiel as she held out the remainder of the sleep brew, but sighed and downed the contents. She lay down, and drew her covers up then turned to Sylphiel.  
  
"Syl?" Lina began, blinking the sleepiness from her eyes.  
  
"Yes, Lina?" Sylphiel asked from the doorway, just about to leave.  
  
"Thank ... you..." Lina's voice trailed away as sleep overcame her at last. 


	9. In which there are nightmares, and an ex...

Chapter 8: In which there are nightmares, and an expected arrival  
  
Sylphiel slipped out of Zelgadiss's tent, the now empty mug in one hand, her light spell just barely glimmering in the snow-induced gloom. She sighed, the exertion of weaving a spell that only the most expert of healers ever used, and that very rarely, draining her to clumsiness. Her lighting spell flickered behind her and went out... but she was too drained to recast it, and tried to make her way across the camp to the tent she shared with Amelia.  
  
Just as she would have fallen in the ever-deeper snow, a large figure appeared in front of her, catching her in warm arms.  
  
"Are you okay, Sylphiel?" Gourry's voice came out of the darkness, as welcome as his arm keeping her from falling into a heap at his feet. She shivered, and pulled her cloak tighter around her, letting his warm bulk protect her from the snow a little longer.  
  
"I'm just tired, Gourry" her voice was rough, strained from chanting her spell. "That was a lot harder than I expected."  
  
"Is it going to help him? I hate to see you drained like this, especially if it's not going to help..." Gourry trailed off as the woman in his arms broke into tears. Unsure what to do, and not wanting to make it worse, he stood there helplessly.  
  
"You should take her to bed." Wilam's voice came out of the darkness, startling the couple in the center of camp. "I take it that Lina isn't going to be able to take midnight watch, Miss Sylphiel?"  
  
Sylphiel blushed at being caught held in Gourry's arms by a virtual stranger, and at his somewhat suggestive comment. Gourry stood there, not quite sure how to answer.  
  
"Um... yes, I gave Mr. Zelgadiss some sleeping tea, Lina needs to stay there... to watch over him... while the spell takes effect..." Not used to lying even by omission, Sylphiel stuttered her way through the explanation.  
  
"I thought as much. Nothing terribly big is going to be out in this weather. Gourry, help her to that tent, and we can make it a two watch night... if you can take another couple of hours?" Wilam gestured towards Lina's tent. "Might as take that one down if no one is going to use it, could get damaged in the storm."  
  
At Gourry's nod that he could take a couple more hours, Wilam stretched and made his way over to Lina's tent. Sylphiel, with a lot of help from her swordsman, made her way to her own bedroll and fell asleep almost immediately. Gourry and Wilam dismantled the tent, brushed the snow off it, and stored it in their shared tent until it could be packed away later. Wilam lay down for another hour's sleep, while Gourry made another round of camp, checked that the fire was winning the war against the snow, and generally did sleepy-but-watchful things.  
  
Just as Gourry was starting to contemplate digging through Sylphiel's supplies for some tea, Wilam emerged from their tent. He walked out, yawning and stretching, letting the wispy remains of the snowfall land on his face.  
  
"Ready to call it a night, Gourry?" He asked, rolling his head to one side and stretching his arms over his head.  
  
At Gourry's nod, Wilam grinned. "Sorry about leaving you out here all alone. We'll have to talk to the girls and get them to rotate into the schedule. You have any thoughts on that?"  
  
"Not sure... ask me once I've slept." Gourry mumbled, his only thoughts of his warm bedroll and soft pillow.  
  
Wilam laughed, and made his way to the fire. Gourry folded himself into the tent, making the oversized tent appear small next to him. As Gourry faded into sleep, he though he heard Wilam talking to someone, but decided it was just his imagination.  
  
It wasn't though... as Gourry slid past this side of consciousness, another being had entered the campsite.   
  
"Hello Xellos" Wilam sounded only slightly less hostile than Zelgadis before coffee. "Finally decided to join us?"  
  
Xellos laughed, jumping down from his tree perch, and landing gently in the snow next to the fire. "Oh I've been here and..."  
  
"Spare me your riddles, Trickster" Wilam broke in, holding out one hand. "I don't need to be tormented by the likes of you."  
  
"You weren't like this before, guide... what changed?" Xellos's smile never faltered, and his eyes remained closed.  
  
"I finally placed you... and considering what you tried last time someone wanted to get to the temple, I don't think it's worth taking any chances..." Wilam's hand hovered over the journal tucked into his belt, drawing Xellos's attention.  
  
"Oh," Xellos purred, stalking around the hostile man, "It must be something in your family... you all respond so beautifully." Xellos opened his eyes, and stared at the now angry young man, "I'd almost guess that someone had trained you to this."  
  
Wilam laughed bitterly, "You mean you don't know, Trickster? I'm surprised at you... must be getting sloppy in your old age."  
  
Xellos laughed, closing his eyes and cocking his head to one side. "Well... I suppose it's just that the offshoot branches have never been as interesting to me as the main branch." He paced towards Zelgadiss's tent, laying a hand proprietarily on the tent flap. He drew his hand back with a hiss, and looked at the tent worriedly.  
  
"What has that priestess done now?" Xellos muttered, "I always knew she was going to be a problem..."  
  
"Don't..." Wilam began, moving towards the tent intent on stopping the Mazoku.  
  
Xellos laughed, "Oh, little brother has nothing to fear from me... if anything, he's the..." Xellos stopped, as if suddenly aware that Wilam was listening in avidly.   
  
"What? He's the what?" Wilam began, laying a hand on the skinning knife sheathed at his side, "And little brother? I know for a fact that Rezo did something to him, are you saying..."  
  
Xellos laughed, skipping out of reach, and shaking a finger at Wilam. "Ah, ah, ah" he crowed. "That..."  
  
Wilam seethed for a moment, knowing what was going to come next. Instead, a snowball flew across the clearing, and landed directly in Xellos's laughing face. Two sets of startled gazes, one eyes open, one eyes closed, flew across the clearing to the small figure in white that stood posing on a tree stump.  
  
"Mr. Xellos! It is unjust of you to torture our guide like this! Especially at a time when Mr. Zelgadiss is so sick, and Miss Lina and Miss Sylphiel are so exhausted taking care of him!" Amelia struck another pose, teetering for a moment on the stump. "I will not allow this to continue! I, Amelia wil Tesla Sailoon, cannot allow your blatant disregard for justice to..."  
  
Another snowball flew, this time from the snow-covered Mazoku. It caught Amelia mid-rant and mid-chest, toppling her into a convenient snow bank. Xellos smirked at the little princess, then flitted away.  
  
"We can continue this in the morning. You humans need your sleep." Xellos's laughter faded away, as the purple-haired Mazoku left the campsite.   
  
Wilam hurried over to help the little princess, still angry at the unexpected interruption. He didn't really think that the Mazoku would have let anything slip, yet he was frustrated at loosing the chance for more information. His frustration made him less than completely gentle as he brushed the young princess off.  
  
Amelia suffered his impersonal handling with only a few undignified squeaks. Her fall into the snow bank had left her a little cold and damp, but she hesitated to ask the angry young man in front of her for something warm. Wilam calmed down a bit, and carefully brushed the damp snow off her cloak before wrapping it more tightly around her.  
  
"I'm sorry, Amelia... I'm a little... distracted by Xellos's arrival" Wilam looked down at the silent girl. "Why are you up, anyway? It's the middle of the night, you should be sleeping."  
  
Amelia blushed at his look, and scuffed her booted toe in the snow. "I was... I just... I couldn't sleep."  
  
Wilam sighed, wondering when he would get a chance to just sit, and motioned towards the teakettle Gourry had left out. "I was going to make some coffee, I could make extra water if you'd like some tea?"  
  
Amelia sighed, relieved that she wouldn't have to ask for the warm drink she was craving. "I would like that."  
  
While Wilam busied himself with the kettle and some clean snow over the fire, Amelia cleaned the snow off a log to sit on. While she was brushing the snow to the ground, she looked around at the tents. She shook her head a couple of times, and counted the tents again. When she realized that there was indeed a tent missing, she turned to Wilam.  
  
"Where is the other tent?" She asked, pointing to the empty spot where the tent should be, "Is Miss Lina all right?"  
  
Wilam chuckled, and shook his head a bit. "Well... you see... Lina is taking care of Zel until Sylphiel is sure that her spell took. Sylphiel seemed pretty tired when she came out, almost falling over, so I guess she asked Lina to sit up with him."  
  
"Oh..." Amelia said, "Do you think that they are okay?"  
  
"I wouldn't worry about them, Sylphiel said something about a sleep potion or tea of some kind." Wilam poked the kettle full of still melting snow. "I'm going to check the perimeter, can you watch the water?"  
  
"Um... I suppose so... I'm not very good at cooking or anything..." Amelia replied picking up a small stick from the woodpile to poke the kettle with.  
  
Wilam laughed, then placed his mug next the cleared off log he'd been sitting on. "Don't worry. It's just got to boil. When it does, pour us each a mug. I'll be back soon."  
  
While Amelia settled in to watch the kettle, Wilam headed out to the edge of camp. If Amelia had been watching, she would have noticed that he headed in the same direction that Xellos had taken, but she was too preoccupied with the kettle.  
  
A faint sound from the tent she shared with Sylphiel startled her briefly, but Amelia just shrugged, and went back to watching the snow melt in the kettle.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Sylphiel had a difficult time falling asleep. She was exhausted, her body numb from cold and lack of energy, and her throat hurt from hours of chanting. Her bedroll didn't feel as soft as it should have been, and her pillow refused to form a comfortable angle for her neck. Her knees hurt from kneeling for hours, even though as a shrine maiden she had held nightlong vigils on stone floors, somehow her exhaustion made her very aware of all the tiny complaints from her body.  
  
After tossing for what felt like hours, but was actually only about 20 or 30 minutes, she settled into an uneasy sleep. Rather than sleeping contentedly on her back, she dropped off to sleep curled into her pillow, with her blankets wrapped tightly around her legs.  
  
In Sylphiel's dream, she was back in Sairaag. She was lost, and very young, no matter how far she ran, nothing looked right. People stared at her and laughed as she stumbled crying through the streets. She tripped, landing hard on her hands, and felt a terrible pain in her left arm. Crying, she rolled over onto her side, her hair hiding her face.  
  
*blink*  
  
Sylphiel was in the false Sairaag, staring up at Gourry's body inside Phibrizo's evil crystal. Her side ached, and the palms of her hands were slightly burnt from the dragon slave that she had cast to no effect. Her heart felt like it was breaking, and she wanted Gourry to live, more than her own life. If Lina could save him...  
  
*blink*  
  
Sylphiel was back in the street, her hair hiding her face, her wrist throbbing. Booted feet stopped in front of her. Inside her head she was screaming, telling herself to run, but unable to change the path of memory. A deep voice above her asked if she was lost. Her child-self cringed at the cruelty in that voice, but didn't get up, didn't run. The adult awareness in her head shrieked, waiting for the pain. Pain that didn't come...  
  
*blink*  
  
A young man knelt before her, holding her injured wrist gently, his long blonde hair blowing in the breeze. Sylphiel was older now, but had broken her wrist again, again being approached by a creepy stranger in the marketplace. Her mother was no longer alive to come save her, she had been ready to die there, surrounded by people who didn't care about a lost girl. The he came, caught the creepy-man's arm before the hand could touch her cringing body. Informed the bystanders that they were contemptible, beaten the cruel ones back.  
  
He walked her home, was thanked by her father... complimented her on her then-only-adequate cooking. She vowed to learn everything she could about cooking on that day, just to live up to his praise. She thought her heart would break when he left...  
  
*blink*  
  
A sense of dread overcame her. She screamed her defiance at the uncaring hell-child in front of her and prepared to die. Lina... Lina would save them...  
  
The next thing she remembered was looking into those eyes, those golden eyes in Lina's face. Hearing that golden voice coming from her friend's throat. The terror overcame her again. What if Gourry couldn't save her...  
  
*blink*  
  
Sylphiel stood in front of a throne, and judgment was being passed. A golden haired woman in a short white dress looked down at her.   
  
"You've killed them, you know... and now you have to die." The woman's voice was husky, low and wild like the wind before a storm. Her eyes burned into Sylphiel's face, and her words echoed, following the shrine maiden out of her dream and into sudden wakefulness.  
  
-----------------------------  
  
A shrill scream broke the night. Wilam ran in from the woods and Amelia jumped to her feet as Gourry ran barefoot into the snow, sword in hand. Wild sobbing came from the tent that Sylphiel and Amelia were sharing, and Gourry started towards it, naked blade ready. Realizing that he intended to enter the tent, Amelia moved forward, energy dancing along her fingertips. She shook her head at the swordsman, royal training blooming in the moment of crisis.  
  
Gourry didn't even think, he simply acquiesced to her demand. He bowed his head in acknowledgement, then stood guard at one side of the tent flap as Amelia walked inside. Wilam waited near the campfire, uncertain of what is happening, and not wanting to interrupt.  
  
A quiet murmuring was barely audible from within the tent. It might have been possible to make out the conversation, but neither man tried. Sylphiel's loud sobbing faded as the princess's quiet words sink in, and in a few minutes Amelia reappeared, drawing the shrine maiden out of the tent.  
  
Gourry took one look at the tiny princess supporting the much taller shrine maiden, and sheathed his sword. In one flowing movement, he picked up the still weak woman and carried her to a cleared log in front of the fire.  
  
"You two have some tea. Wilam and I will check the perimeter." Gourry motioned towards the now-boiling kettle, before looking at Wilam, one eyebrow raised. Wilam nodded and the two men faded into the darkness around the campfire.  
  
Sylphiel accepted a cup of tea from Amelia, cradling it in both hands before looking up with a question in her eyes.   
  
"Was Gourry... barefoot?" She asked, taking a small sip from the tea.  
  
Amelia giggled, and took a small sip of her own tea. "I think he was... he must have been worried about you."  
  
Sylphiel smiled sadly into her teacup. "That's just his way..."  
  
"No," Amelia interrupted, "That's just his way with YOU."  
  
Sylphiel almost dropped her tea in surprise.  
  
"With the rest of us, he's..." Amelia paused, trying to find the right words, "He's just different. He is protective, but not... not as instinctively. It's like we get the trained responses while you get the actions his heart demand from him."  
  
Sylphiel blushed and hid behind her hair before answering. "I think it's just that I'm less able to take care of myself than you are."  
  
"No. It's not just that... he cares about you." Amelia shook her head, still not able to name the feeling, "I know, he's very caring. But with you, there is an extra level to it. And you are just as capable of taking care of yourself as I am, maybe more so."  
  
Sylphiel looked up in surprise, momentarily forgetting about the drink in her hands. "How can you say that, Amelia?"  
  
"Miss Sylphiel, you know about my family, right?" At Sylphiel's nod, Amelia continued, "I get to go a lot of places and do a lot of things because of my Daddy. It's not that I am better or smarter or more powerful than you are... it's just that I have connections."  
  
"But here" Amelia said, pointing to the campsite, and the fire "Here I can't do anything more than you can... and can actually do a lot less."  
  
At Sylphiel's involuntary sound of protest Amelia's voice grew more forceful, "You are a wonderful cook. You can find food even here, in this cold place with all the snow. I can't even make tea without help. You know all kinds of healing spells that I've never even heard of... I'm supposed to be from the white magic capital of the world, and you can cast circles around me. I tried to help Mr. Zelgadiss... and I just made his headache worse. You cast some spell that actually helped him..."  
  
Amelia broke off as Sylphiel started crying again.  
  
"No, I didn't..." Sylphiel tried to stop crying, but the tears only fell faster. "The spell that I cast? It's not making him better, it's just keeping him alive until we can get to the temple... if..."  
  
Amelia looked at the shrine maiden. "If what, Miss Sylphiel?"  
  
"If it doesn't kill Miss Lina first!" Sylphiel burst out, dropping her teacup and hiding her face in her hands.  
  
Amelia gasped, wanting to comfort Sylphiel, but at a loss for words. She looked down at her teacup, and then glanced up at the crying shrine maiden. "If anyone can do it, Miss Lina can."  
  
Sylphiel ignored her, trying to stifle her tears. "I never should have mentioned the spell. Miss Lina isn't one to walk away from something just because it's dangerous... I should have known she would..."  
  
Amelia finished her tea, and set the cup down before moving to sit next to the crying shrine maiden. She leaned towards the taller woman, and gave her a comforting hug. "You just have to think positively. Miss Lina needs our support, she'll come through all right. You'll see."  
  
Amelia drew the shrine maiden to her feet, and smiled up at her. "We should get some sleep... do you want some of that tea that Miss Lina made earlier? Maybe it will help you sleep?"  
  
Sylphiel took a deep breath, and wiped the tears from her face. "No. You're right... I keep forgetting how strong Miss Lina is... they'll be fine, we'll get to the temple, and they will be fine."  
  
Amelia led the taller woman back to their tent, being very careful not to bump Sylphiel or trip on the way across camp. A shadowed figure in a tree nearby watched them go. 


	10. Interlude: Waking Up

/Author's Note: I wasn't too sure about adding this part in... it's a behind the scenes pieces that I wrote for background information, trying to figure out how they might act without having either explosions or total out of character interaction. Feel free to skip it./  
  
8.5 - Interlude: Waking up  
  
It was cold. Zelgadiss could feel the cold very well, even if he always pretended differently. His skin might be mostly indestructible, but stone will conduct heat very efficiently, given time. He wondered vaguely when his head would start to hurt, as it had for so long. He refused to open his eyes, trying to savor the feeling of waking up pain-free. Noise from outside his tent told him that people were starting to move around... probably what had awakened him.  
  
There was a warmth pining his right arm down... that was new. Maybe he had just slept oddly, and the arm had fallen asleep. No, that didn't explain the warmth. He moved experimentally, then froze when a faint complaining noise came from the warmth. He cringed inwardly as memories from the night before provided a clue to the warmth's source.  
  
'Is it safer to go back to sleep?" Zel wondered. Memories of waking up to Lina beating him because she was hanging onto his foot convinced him that running was probably his best option.   
  
He opened his eyes and shifted slightly, trying to free his arm. Lina was curled up next to him, using his shoulder as a pillow. Her left arm was curled under her, and her right hand lay in the center of his chest.  
  
'She's going to kill me...' He thought, and then 'I wonder how this happened. Probably not as important as getting out of here before she wakes up.'  
  
Moving as slowly and smoothly as he knew how, he picked up Lina's right arm and set it down on her hip. Lina made a small discontent noise, and moved her arm back. He froze, holding his breath in case she woke up.  
  
After a few noise-free moments, he decided to try again. This time, he picked her arm up, and rolled her off his shoulder while sliding slightly away. Lina made another sleepy noise, but curled both her arms up in front of her chest and settled back against his forearm.  
  
Looking around the immediate area for her pillow proved fruitless. Zel considered his own pillow for a moment, and decided he'd better move fast. He lay on his side, and pulled his pillow over. Using every ounce of extra speed he possessed, he quickly picked Lina up and placed his pillow under her head. She made more sleepy noises, but accepted the pillow as an appropriate substitute.  
  
With a sigh of relief, Zel rolled out of his bedroll and found the clothes he had set out the day before. He glanced at Lina, but she was still deep asleep. She had curled around his pillow, so that she was sleeping on it in much the same position she had been sleeping on him. For a moment he felt vaguely jealous of his pillow.  
  
Shaking his head at himself, Zel quickly changed into his traveling clothes. He folded his pajamas, then realized that he had chosen the same pair that Lina had given him back at the inn. He looked at them for a moment, wondering again why Lina had a pair of pajamas that fit him perfectly. Deciding that it didn't really matter, he stored them in his pack and turned back to his bedroll.  
  
Lina had sprawled, and was lying across both their bedding. She was still wrapped around his pillow, and he quickly decided that packing his bedding would have to wait. He crouched next to the sleeping woman for a moment, then decided that he should leave before she woke. He looked around briefly, making sure that he hadn't forgotten anything in his packing, and noticed Lina's clothing lying in a tangle next to his boots. He absent-mindedly picked up her tunic and tights, folding them neatly before taking his own footwear and leaving his sleeping companion.  
  
  
Lina was having a wonderful dream. In her dream, she was lying in her barn, watching the sunset through the hayloft door. Luna was making dinner, and the sunlight caressed her face gently. Something disturbed the dream, and she became aware that it was just a dream. She sighed disappointed that the dream would end, and she would wake up to somewhere infinitely less comfy.  
  
As Lina swam up towards consciousness, small sensations greeted her. Her pillow was not as squishy as usual, but it was warm and just the perfect height to support her neck. Something about her bed felt odd, there was a heartbeat under her hand... no, that must have been her imagination. Something was different... her pillow was more squishy than she had thought, and the heartbeat was gone.  
  
Assuming it was just a trick her body played on her, Lina curled back around her pillow, looking for the comforting warmth. Even that seemed to have disappeared. A slight frown crossed her face as she stretched, ah... there was that warmth again. Lina rolled into the warm part of the bedroll, not bother to wonder why it seemed so far away. She slipped back into dreams, never noticing Zel's hurried changing.  
  
A brief cold breeze blew across her, and Lina made her way back into wakefulness. As she woke the second time, her brain registered two things. One, the blankets to her right were warmer than those to her left, and two, the blankets to the right weren't hers. Blinking sleepily she realized her pillow wasn't actually hers either. She looked around, guiltily, but she was alone in the tent.  
  
She sighed in relief, thankful that Zel wasn't inside the bedroll she had been trying to climb into while asleep. She started to wonder when he had gotten up, but the self-preservation side of her brain quickly beat the curious side into submission. Yawning and stretching, she began the process of waking up. Her morning stretches were hurried, her desire for her usual routine loosing the battle against her stomach as the smell of Sylphiel's breakfast wafted into the tent.  
  
Looking around, she noticed that her clothing had been folded neatly, and was stacked off to one side next to her boots. A faint smile appeared as she changed into the neatly folded clothing. After quickly rolling up both sets of bedding, and reluctantly setting Zel's pillow with his bedroll, Lina made her way out of the tent and into the rest of the day. 


	11. In which a warning is given, and ignored...

Chapter 9: In which a warning is given, and ignored...  
  
The morning dawned cold, but clear. Wilam wasn't sure how early the group wanted to get underway, and was just thinking about waking people when Amelia and Sylphiel emerged from their tent. The night had been draining, and even Amelia looked a little worn out. Greetings were exchanged, wash water was heated and Sylphiel began making breakfast while Amelia packed up their tent and stored it in her pocket space for travel.  
  
Sylphiel was putting the finishing touches on her first batch of pancakes when Gourry emerged from the tent he shared with Wilam. Amelia waved to him, mouth full of her first plate of breakfast, while Wilam made tea. Without Lina awake to fight with, Gourry's eating was much more sedate. He and Amelia plowed their way companionably through five batches of pancakes before Zelgadiss emerged from his tent.   
  
"How are you feeling this morning, Mr. Zelgadiss?" Sylphiel asked, handing him a plate and mug.  
  
"A lot better, thanks to you and Lina, Sylphiel." Zelgadiss replied, taking the mug. "I'm not really that hungry..."  
  
"You need to eat, Mr. Zelgadiss. You might not think you are hungry, but your body knows better..." Sylphiel pressed the plate into his hands and pushed him towards the fire. "Is Lina still asleep?"  
  
Zelgadiss looked down at his plate, blushing furiously. "Um... yeah... she seemed really tired." He muttered. "Good thing, too..."  
  
Sylphiel smiled, and resumed cooking pancakes. "I'm not surprised. The spell we cast last night is taking a lot out of her. Don't be surprised if she's more tired today, and if she can't cast much magic."  
  
Gourry nodded sagely, swallowing the last pancake off his plate. "That time of the month, huh?"  
  
Amelia gaped at the swordsman, then turned to Sylphiel. "But..."  
  
Sylphiel smiled gently at Gourry. "Not exactly... let's just say that the spell needs to be maintained, and Lina is maintaining it. She's going to need to sleep a lot and her magic is going to be a little... erratic. At least until we get to the temple."  
  
Lina emerged from Zel's tent, covering a yawn and stretching. Sylphiel had warned Wilam, who handed her a cup of strong tea before she had a chance to say anything. In a rare show of compassion, Gourry only stole two of her sausages before handing her plate over. Lina ate quickly, but very quietly. By the time she and Zel had finished, Amelia and Sylphiel were washing dishes while Gourry dried them, and Wilam had taken down the two remaining tents. Lina stuck her tent and the larger shared tent in her pocket space, while Zelgadiss stored his own.  
  
"Hello everyone, ready to go?" Xellos had grabbed a cup and some tea and was lounging on a tree branch next to the path the group was planning to take further into the mountains.  
  
Grumbles from the somewhat tired, and rather cold, slayers gang were his only reply. Smirking at Lina, Xellos jumped down from his branch, flipping to land in front of her. Lina looked up at him with only part of her usual humor.   
  
"What do you want, Xellos?" Lina sighed.  
  
"Why Miss Lina... why would I want anything." Xellos leaned closer to her, then drew back, his eyes opening in shock. "What have you DONE?"   
  
At Xellos's yell, the group erupted into a flurry of motion. Sylphiel winced as Amelia leapt forward, dishcloth upraised as she struck a standard justice pose. Wilam moved around the fire, supplies forgotten in a pile, and Gourry drew his sword hilt, but Zelgadiss moved so fast he blurred.  
  
Xellos hung from the angry chimera's grasp, his feet dangling as Zel help him up at arm's length.   
  
"I don't see how that's any of your business, Mazoku!" Zel hissed, his eyes narrowing in anger. A flaming battle aura sprung up around him, then died as Lina laid her hand softly on his shoulder.  
  
"It's nothing. Put Xellos down, Zel, you haven't been feeling well." Lina's voice was soft, almost a whisper.   
  
Her companions stared, shock freezing them mid motion. No one remembered the aspects of Zel's chimerical nature until he used them, but what really shocked them was his anger... the way it had flared up was much more Lina's usual style than his. As a group, their eyes turned to the tiny sorceress. She was pale, her skin almost translucent against the burning color of her hair. Her hand shook slightly as it lay on Zel's shoulder, but her words were firm, if soft.  
  
"Just leave her alone!" With a final shake, Zel dropped the startled Mazoku, shook off Lina's hand and stalked away.  
  
The group stood frozen for a moment, then collectively blinked, and silently returned to their tasks. Lina sat down, and picked up her teacup. She looked at it blankly for a moment, then smiled.  
  
"Well, enough of that! What's the plan for today, Wilam?" Lina reached into the side pocket of her pack and brought out a package of tea. She carefully measured a small amount, and poured the last of the hot water into her mug. Grimacing, she tossed the contents of the cup back, swallowing the leaves along with the water. Shaking her head at the bitterness, she flashed a Victory sign, and tapped the last of the wetness out of her mug before stashing it for travel.  
  
Wilam watched her, slightly concerned at her apparent indifference to one of her companions leaving without a word.  
  
"Uh... well, we're going to have a tough day of climbing ahead of us... this snowfall was rather unexpected, it's still early in the season for it..." Wilam stuttered, pulling the journal out and opening it to a map. "If we keep a similar pace today, we should be able to reach a way-station tonight... as long as you don't mind another full day of walking."  
  
He pointed to a little notation on his map, showing the group the other stopping options.   
  
"Well, let's get going!" Lina announced, pulling her cloak around her a little more tightly. "Where did Xellos go? Did anyone see him leave?"  
  
The rest of the group looked around, but there was no sign of either Xellos or Zelgadis.   
  
"We can't leave without Mr. Zelgadiss." Amelia announced, sitting next to Lina.  
  
"Oh, don't worry. He won't have gone far." Sylphiel reassured Amelia, a gentle smile accompanying the knowing look that Sylphiel shot in Lina's direction. "I'm sure he's just waiting for the rest of us a little way up the path."  
  
As the party started off down the path, Lina wondered about Sylphiel's statement. 'There is probably a range on the spell. He can't go comfortably outside the spell range... I think.'  
  
Wilam was worried about the party getting to the temple before the winter snows started... it was very rare for there to be any snowfall this early, he hoped that it wasn't a precursor to the rest of the trip. Amelia seemed to have gotten her traveling feet yesterday; she didn't need nearly as much help over rocks and past icy spots as he had feared.   
  
Zelgadiss rejoined the group quietly, appearing soon after they left. Wilam left periodically to check the trail ahead for unexpected results from the snowstorm. The few small complications were easily avoided, Amelia scrambled over rocks and fallen trees like a pro, only landing badly once. She bounced right back up, causing the group to attempt to hide smiles, at least until her ringing laughter floated back to them. Sylphiel needed some help from Gourry to get over an especially large tree, and immediately after Lina and Zelgadiss passed the tree, Lina climbing, and Zel jumping, the group stopped for lunch.  
  
Everyone pulled travel rations out, with Sylphiel contributing the last of the pastries to liven up the meal. Amelia and Gourry fought over the last pastry, while Lina slowly finished her tea. In the neat, fast manner that his companions were slowing getting used to, Zelgadis actually had seconds.  
  
"I think this walking is good for you, Mr. Zelgadiss." Amelia chirped, letting go of the pastry in her distraction. Gourry immediately devoured the pastry, and began looking for more.  
  
"I think it has more to do with Sylphiel's spell." Zelgadiss replied, looking down at his empty plate. "Although, I'm not so sure about it... Lina's acting awful strangely."  
  
"She's not the only one" Xellos muttered, sipping from his cup and settling on a rock near the startled chimera.  
  
"I hate it when he does that." Zelgadiss muttered, turning away from the new arrival dismissively. He finished his tea, and wiped out his mug with some snow before placing it into his pack.  
  
"Are you planning to travel with us now, Mr. Xellos?" Amelia asked, turning to face him.  
  
Lina sighed, and stood up. "What do you want, Xellos? I'm not in any mood to play your little games right now."  
  
"Oh, Lina... why do you think that I would be playing any games?" Xellos looked injured, but his lips twisted into a mocking smile. "I can't even come to warn you without you expecting me to have a hidden motive?"  
  
"Warn us about what?" Lina snapped, the brief rest and good food returning some of her usual energy.  
  
"Lina." Xellos laughed, holding his hands up in defeat. "You know that I wouldn't let anything happen to my favorite people."  
  
"Now I know you're up to something." Lina pounced on the Mazoku, putting him in a headlock, "Spill it, or I'll get mad!"  
  
Xellos laughed in delight, "There's my Lina..."  
  
Zelgadiss growled, curling his hands into fists, and preparing to assist Lina.  
  
"I'm not yours, Fruitcake!" Lina yelled, punching the grinning Mazoku in the head a few times. "Spill it, now!"  
  
"Okay, okay. You are such fun when you're angry, Miss Lina." Xellos chuckled, freeing himself from Lina's grasp with astonishing ease. "I just wanted to warn you that there is a large amount of snow up ahead, be very careful."  
  
"Why didn't you just say that in the first place," Zel muttered.  
  
With a jaunty grin, Xellos stole another cup of tea from the pot, and settled back down to finish it. The rest of the party shot glances at him, but he avoided their pointed looks, engaging Lina is small talk about some magic book he had 'found' nearby.  
  
When the party had finished the last of their food, cleaned up and repacked their belongings, Sylphiel walked over to Lina. The ordinarily quiet priestess shooed Xellos away, who immediately went to torment Zelgadiss.  
  
"Are you alright, Lina?" Sylphiel asked, trying to lay a hand across Lina's forehead.  
  
"I'm fine, Sylphiel" Lina ducked out of the way of Sylphiel's hand. "I'm just a little tired, that's all."  
  
"Did you sleep well? It's as important that you get plenty of sleep until we reach the temple... this is going to be like casting a huge spell everyday. If you start having any problems, you have to tell me, Lina." Sylphiel felt the same shiver that had accompanied her nightmare return. Lina tried to wave her off, but Sylphiel grabbed Lina's hands, forcing Lina to look directly at her.  
  
"I'm serious about this, Lina. Power isn't the only factor, and neither is stubbornness." Sylphiel tried to convey how serious this was to her without raising her voice.  
  
Lina seemed to realize that she was serious, and closed her eyes. She breathed deeply, holding her breath for a moment before letting it out with a sigh and opening her eyes. Looking into Sylphiel's serious face and her caring eyes, Lina felt fear loose the battle against pride. She new that Sylphiel wouldn't allow Zel to die for lack of support from his friends, but she also knew that Sylphiel had to be there to explain what she knew about Zel's condition. Using every ounce of stubbornness and pride that she possessed, Lina looked into her friend's face and lied.  
  
"Of course I'll tell you if it becomes a problem, Sylphiel." 


	12. In which everyone hates snow

After lunch, the group continued on. Wilam and Gourry took turns breaking the path. Zelgadiss offered to take a turn, but Sylphiel shot that idea down due to his recent illness, and the two other men agreed with her. He spent a lot of the trip alternately muttering and glaring and Wilam and Gourry. He tried to glare at Sylphiel, but her raised eyebrow just dared him to disagree with her.  
  
Lina kept up a pretense of good cheer... or rather, normal behavior, but she was so tired that she didn't complain about the cold nearly enough. Amelia chatted with Xellos, who for once didn't seem to mind the bouncy princess's attitude.   
  
Around mid-afternoon, Sylphiel took a few moments to share her fears with the one person in the group who she trusted to keep an eye on Lina.  
  
"Gourry, have you noticed anything unusual about Lina?" Sylphiel didn't really have enough experience traveling with Lina to judge, maybe this was normal.   
  
Gourry thought for a moment, then patted Sylphiel's hand where is rested on his arm. "She's a little quieter than usual, but it's not really anything to worry about. Lina's a more complex person than most people give her credit for. She might be loud and rash, but she cares very much about her friends. I'm sure she's just worried about Zel."  
  
Sylphiel thought back to what she knew about Lina. "I know that she cares, no one has ever questioned that..."  
  
"Did you know, when we had to fight that Red guy... the first one, not that other one... Well, we all talked about what we needed to do, but it was Lina that insisted we finish it. She was willing to die rather than give up when we needed her." Gourry smiled, remembering Lina's little speech and how it made him feel that he'd done the right thing becoming her protector.  
  
Looking up at Gourry's smile, Sylphiel felt her heart sink. Gourry was probably right... he might not be the fastest thinker, but when he took the time to think things through, his thoroughness was amazing. If Lina had been that willing to do whatever was necessary for people she had only known for a few weeks, how would she respond to the death of a friend.  
  
Sylphiel leaned into Gourry, not liking the conclusion she was coming to. "Gourry, dear... can you do something for me?"  
  
Gourry looked down at her, and smiled, patting her hand again. "I'd do almost anything for you, Sylphiel."  
  
Sylphiel was so concerned that she didn't even blush at this, "Will you watch Lina for me, Gourry. I'm afraid that she's going to do something as dangerous as fighting Rezo... or maybe more dangerous, since this might not be a battle that she can win."  
  
"Is that all, Sylphiel? Of course... I do that anyway." Gourry was puzzled, but he took Sylphiel's request to heart. Sylphiel wouldn't ask unless it was important.  
  
A few feet away, the smile stayed on Xellos's face as he continued to chat with Amelia. 'What could Lina possibly be doing that was that dangerous... I don't sense anything nearby that she can't handle, even with just a sword and her lighting spell. I'll have to keep an eye on her, just in case...'   
  
At the head of the little column, Wilam stopped and held up his hand. The group slowed, and came to a stop behind him. Lina wavered a bit, but only Xellos noticed, everyone else was busy looking at the thin, ice-covered path ahead.  
  
"We've got to get past this part, then the trail is easy to the way station. Do people want to stop and rest, or press on while it's still light?" Wilam pointed ahead to the slippery trail. "We will need to cross one at a time, not sure how strong that ledge still is. Magic is very difficult to perform here, due to the inhibiting nature of the rock around us, otherwise we could just levitate across."  
  
Murmurs of 'let's press on' and 'get to our camping spot' echoed back to Wilam, who nodded, and started forward. The thin layer of snow left on the path covered a thick patch of ice, and the wind whipped past the edge of the path through the deep chasm below. Wilam moved quickly, testing the path each step of the way, then he was on the other side. He waved back at the group, keeping an eye out as each member of the group made their way across.  
  
Sylphiel and Amelia followed Wilam, moving carefully, and only wavering a little on the slipperiest parts. A brief argument broke out as to who would go next, but Lina won it by threatening to throw Gourry to the other side if he didn't move. Xellos bounded across, leaning far out over the edge and remarking on the drop, while Gourry and Lina argued.  
  
When he reached the far side, and was sitting next to Amelia on a little rock outcropping, Gourry started across. When he reached the other side, Lina turned to Zelgadiss, who laughed at her.  
  
"If weight is really an issue, you should go next, Lina." Zel motioned to his body, "You'd get stuck here if I broke the ledge."  
  
Lina looked at her friend, wishing there was some way to reassure her friend without sounding trite. She smiled sadly, then wearily stood and started across the slippery path. Either the fading light, or the slippery surface, or Lina's tiredness conspired against her. Midway across, she placed a foot wrong, and started to slide towards the edge of the path. Her frightened casting of Levitation was the last straw, and with a cry of pain, Lina Inverse, Sorcery Genius, crumpled to the ground, hanging partially over the edge of the drop.  
  
Shocked faces and three people instinctively moving forward was probably a bad idea... an even worse idea was...  
  
"Miss LINA!" Amelia shrieked, aghast at seeing her mentor laid low by a patch of ice. Xellos swore, and covered her mouth, but it was already too late.  
  
All eyes turned towards the princess, terror on the faces of the few with experience in snowy mountains... all eyes, except Zelgadiss's, which remained focused on the crumpled figure in the snow. A rumbling sound echoed down the side of the mountain, seeming to drive the chimera's figure forward even faster. He was kneeling next to Lina when the crack echoed up from the chasm. Even Zelgadiss's demonic speed was no match for the combined gravity of the falling snow and crumbling rock.  
  
The party watched helplessly as falling snow obscured the images of their friends, Lina lying pale and still, her hair spread like blood across Zelgadiss's gray-cloaked shoulder. Amelia was certain that the image would follow her forever, and lay helpless in Xellos's arms sobbing like her heart had broken.  
  
Sylphiel and Gourry clung together, not really sure who was supporting whom. Each felt their guilt weighing them down, Gourry sure that had he only been watching, the tragedy could have been averted, Sylphiel certain that the deaths were here fault.  
  
"If only..." She sobbed into Gourry's shoulder, holding on to him both for support, and to keep him from throwing himself into the chasm after their friends. "If only I had never mentioned the temple, if I had never mentioned the spell, if I had never tied Lina's magic to Zelgadiss's curse..."  
  
Xellos sat up, dropping the weeping princess as Sylphiel's words registered. His rage beat against the stricken priestess like lava off a volcano.   
  
"What. Did. You. DO?" Xellos's eyes were open, and Sylphiel had never seen hate so strong. A part of her quailed in the face of his emotion, but another part stood up against his pain. After all, his people had done so much worse to her.  
  
"I did what I could to try to save my friend. What did YOU do? All you've done is annoy us, trick us, send us on a wild chase across the world to try to find a cure that you've probably had all this time." Sylphiel's rage was cold, clear as crystal and sharp as a knifepoint. "If you would just stop playing these stupid games, Lina and Zelgadiss would be alive."  
  
"Ha!" Xellos shut his eyes, her rage calming him, mellowing him like a child with a bottle. "Shows what you know... you think his mother would let me continue if I kept something like that from him? Pathetic, Miss Sylphiel... trying to push your guilt off on me. I warned you... I warned you all..."   
  
Realizing he'd said too much, Xellos waved his forefinger at the seething Priestess and laughed.  
  
"They are still alive you know... maybe if you hurry..." Xellos faded away, his words drifting across the party like the first breeze of spring across a field. Cold, with the memory of winter's death, his words carried a tiny hint of hope to come.  
  
Amelia lifted a tearstained face, looking at the rest of the party with painful hope in her eyes.   
  
"But how do we save them without magic?" She asked, ignoring the tearstains as she focused on a new goal.  
  
"Same way the rest of the world does. We use ropes, pitons, and sweat." Wilam responded, pulling supplies out of the bag he insisted on carrying, rather than storing in a pocket space.  
  
While Wilam showed Gourry how to tie himself a harness to climb down in, Sylphiel and Amelia scouted the edge of the ledge. Wilam tried to get them to stay out of the way, but they proved too stubborn, and insisted on checking to see if they could find any sign of their missing friends.  
  
  
Zelgadiss didn't stop to think about what he was doing, as soon as he saw Lina go down, he started running towards her. A little voice inside his head asked him what exactly he was doing, risking his life for the annoying sorceress, but another part of him just growled and bared it's teeth until the first part shut up.  
  
He reached her, and almost froze there in the middle of the ledge. She looked so small, crumpled in the snow, with her bottom lip bitten through. The clinical part of his brain began comparing the blood on her face with the color of her hair on the snow... it noticed that she was uniquely suited to being unconscious and bleeding in the snow. He bent over her, and picked her up as gently as he could. She fit comfortably in his arms, the same way she had the first time he carried her while running from his own men.   
  
Her head lay on his shoulder, but his cloak covered the rest of her... a good thing, since he could feel the cold dampness of her tunic next to his. The moisture seeped through as he drew her close. He felt the rock beneath him shudder, and knew that he would have to move more quickly than ever to get both of them out without going down the side of the mountain.  
  
The rumble of the avalanche above him had him instinctively hunching over her, trying to protect her from the snow that enveloped them. He instinctively cast Ray-wing, not expecting it to work... but it did. Rather than floating gracefully up and out of the way, the spell simply kept them from falling, and provided some protection from the snow. The weight of the snow pressed down on the spell bubble, and should have broken it, but somehow sheer determination kept it up and protecting them.  
  
Lina whimpered, and shuddered in his arms, drawing even closer to him and laying her forehead against his neck. With the increased contact, the spell seemed easier to maintain, and he began trying to direct them upwards, out of the crushing weight of the avalanche trying to kill them. The strain of maintaining the spell was terrible, worse even than the powerful spells he had attempted as a child trying to be a strong magician. His muscles protested, worse than the fatigue of wielding a too-heavy practice sword for hours.  
  
He sighed tiredly into Lina's hair, the spell proving more taxing than he had imagined it would be... immediately the scent of roses filled the interior of the ray-wing bubble. Lina's breathing eased as he stopped trying to fly up through the avalanche. He looked around, and realized that there was a slight ledge just off to one side. With a last burst of effort, he moved them over to the ledge, and set the spell bubble down. The snow around them shivered a bit, but didn't collapse on them, so he sat at the edge of the spell, letting the rock wall take the job of support them against the press of snow.  
  
After a few moments, Lina stirred and opened her eyes. She was in a dimly lit room, and appeared to be sitting on Zel's lap. She pushed against him, trying to stand up... as she leaned away, a sudden fatigue hit her, and he groaned in pain. She sank back against him, trying to maintain her distance, but unable to get up.  
  
"Lina?" Zel's voice echoed oddly in the tiny chamber... was that pain?  
  
"Yeah?" Lina looked around, finding even that small task exhausting.  
  
"Don't move." Zel pushed her head back to his chest and tucked his chin back over it so that she was pressed into his neck.   
  
Lina felt better almost immediately, so she shut her eyes and tried to figure out where they might be. Coming up blank, she asked.  
  
"Zel?"  
  
"Yes, Lina?" Zel sounded tired.  
  
"Where are we?"  
  
A soft chuckle was her only answer for a while, then "Hopefully close to the top of the avalanche... there's a lot of snow out there, and I'm not sure how long I can hold the ray-wing."  
  
"Oh." Lina wasn't quite sure what this had to do with sitting in his lap, but was willing to wait for his explanation. When he fell silent, she tried again.  
  
"Zel?"  
  
"Yes, Lina?" This time he sounded almost amused.  
  
"Why am I sitting in your lap?"  
  
"So I don't drop you or the spell." This time he definitely sounded amused.  
  
"I don't understand." Lina felt like she had missed something important, but wasn't really sure what.  
  
He sighed. "I don't know why, but for some reason, the spell gets easier to maintain when I'm... touching you." He sounded embarrassed this time. "I wasn't expecting it to work in the first place... so..."  
  
"Oh." Lina's brain scurried into activity... if Sylphiel's comments were correct, Zel's magic had been being slowly siphoned off to maintain the spell... if her magic was feeding the spell, maybe some of Zel's magic was freed up to do things like casting a ray-wing.  
  
Lina didn't particularly want to follow that train of thought, especially when her recent headaches might return at anytime. Her brain spun in a new direction. Her eyes widened, and she pulled away from Zelgadiss, and looked up at him. Immediately her headache returned, and she shuddered a bit before leaning back into him.  
  
"Lina?" He sounded like he was in pain.  
  
"Yes, Zel?"  
  
"Please... don't do that." Yup, definitely pain.  
  
"I'm sorry," Lina tried to explain, "I just wanted to test something... didn't really expect... but..."  
  
"Didn't really expect what?" Now he just sounded annoyed. Lina wished that she could look at him, but didn't want to risk pulling away again. She drew a deep breath, and began to explain.  
  
"Well... you know that headache that you had... the one that was tied into your spell failing?" Lina felt him shift, and what felt like a nod, so she continued without waiting for a verbal answer, "Well... Sylphiel knows this spell... they use it in healing sometimes. When a patient is being weakened so much that they cannot heal, the priests can tie someone else's magical energy into the patient... kind of give them and external boost until their body can heal enough to continue healing on its own."  
  
Zelgadiss drew in a shuddering breath, and his arms tightened around her involuntarily. "What did you do, Lina?"  
  
In a small voice, Lina said, "I had her tie my magic... me... into your spell."  
  
"It was killing you, we didn't know how else to keep the spell from making it impossible to get you to the temple before the spell failed entirely." Lina's voice trailed off.   
  
She was suddenly unsure how Zelgadiss was going to react, he'd made comments over the years about hating being stuck in his cursed body... maybe he wouldn't be happy that they'd done something so radical. She waited for him to say something, but he remained silent. After a minute or two, she took off a glove and laid her hand against his wrist, tucking her fingers into his sleeve to maintain skin-to-skin contact. Leaning out slowly, she looked up at him.  
  
Zelgadiss sat there, his best friend in his lap, a heavy weight of snow pressing down on a spell that shouldn't have existed, and tears glimmering in his eyes. Lina looked up at him, and felt her own eyes tearing in response. She smiled sadly at him and curled back up in his lap, confident that whatever he was feeling, it wasn't anger at her actions.  
  
An hour later, when torchlight and excited voices broke through the layer of snow above them, they were still sitting there. Zelgadiss opened his eyes as Gourry and Wilam brushed up against the outside of the ray wing spell. He gathered up Lina, who had opened her eyes when the noise reached them, and leapt through the edge of the spell, grasping the proffered rope with his free hand. Lina clung to him, allowing him to pull them both out of the snow and into the waiting arms of their friends.  
  
Amelia held a torch as she watched Zelgadiss climbing across the snow, Lina still held close, and felt her heart mend, even as it broke again. 'I guess it really is better this way...' she thought as she hurried forward to check on the friends whose lives she endangered with her thoughtless yell earlier in the day. She reached the group in time for Gourry to pounce on Lina, checking her split lip and berating her for worrying him like that.  
  
Lina grimaced, and threatened to beat Gourry if he didn't put her down. He ignored her and hugged her closely as Sylphiel turned to Zelgadiss, and began demanding that he let her check him, and his failing spell, very carefully. Lina finally struggled free of Gourry, and enveloped Amelia in a hug. Since Amelia was still fighting her guilt, the hug released a damn of tears. She sobbed into Lina's shoulder and didn't even notice as Gourry tried to herd them up the path to the cabin.  
  
It took an hour for Wilam and Gourry, once he was done hovering and apologizing, to retrieve the climbing equipment and get everything ready to resume their climb. Wilam asked if everyone was okay climbing in the dark, and reassured them that the rest of the path was much smoother than that last section. Everyone agreed that getting warm and sleeping under cover was worth the trip in the dark, and off they went. 


End file.
